Terms of Service

Copyright

When I have received full and final payment for the services agreed upon, copyright of the work I produce is automatically assigned to you. You can then use the work however you wish. However, until final payment is received, copyright of the work remains with me.

I reserve the right to display copy, graphics and other content elements as examples of my work for my portfolio, unless you have a particular pressing reason for not wanting me to do so (in which case please let me know at the end of the project).

Deadlines

I believe in hitting deadlines, but I can only do this with your help. I can’t be responsible for a missed deadline if you have been late with a down payment, slow to supply materials or not provided feedback to agreed timescales.

I also can’t be responsible for deadlines missed due to circumstances completely beyond my control, like family emergencies, floods, illness, etc.

Further changes will obviously take extra time. We can agree deadlines for those together, but I’ll do everything I can to meet your needs.

Payment

I make a living as a freelancer, so prompt payment is important to me.

To help make sure we stay friends, you agree to adhere to my payment terms as outlined here and in the initial proposal.

I’m not registered for VAT and my payment terms are:

- within 3 days of receipt of invoice for monthly retainer work

- within 7 days of receipt of invoice for one-off project work

I won’t start work until I receive the relevant payment, so the sooner you pay the sooner I can get cracking.

Late Fees

It is a legal requirement for UK businesses to make payment for any goods or services received within 30 days of receipt of an invoice.

Refer to the gov.uk website for more information.

A late payment is an amount of money that arrives after the date the payment was due.

In accordance with The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, late payments will incur a charge of £40 plus 8% Statutory Interest plus the Bank of England Base Rate at the time of this agreement.

Invoices that are 30 days overdue will be passed over to the appropriate collection representatives - the cost of any debt retrieval necessary will be added to the late invoice.

This will also incur a Fixed Debt Recovery Charge as follows.

Debt Owed:

Up to £999.99: Recovery Fee: £40

£1, 000 to £9, 999.99: Recovery Fee: £70

£10, 000 or more: Recovery Fee: £100

Suspension/Cancellation

Suspending services:

If a client deliverable - such as input, approvals, or payment - is late more than 10 business days, the services will be considered “on hold.”

Once the deliverable is received and the services are reactivated, they will be rescheduled based on my current workload and availability.

There is no guarantee I’ll be able to supply services again at short notice.

I will retain any deposit that has been paid and you may be required to make an additional payment to cover any work already completed.

I will not be held responsible for any delays in delivering the services due to the client failing to supply necessary deliverables.

For retainer agreements, work not completed in the month due to delays on the part of the client may still be charged and will not be carried over into the following month.

Cancelling services:

If you wish to cancel our agreement, you are required to give one month’s notice (for monthly retainer work) and will be liable for any fees due during the month’s notice and must pay for all work already completed.

This notice period excludes any trial projects.

Legal

I will do my best to ensure all facts and statements in my work are true and that it doesn’t infringe upon any copyright or other right of a third party.

However, I can't be liable to you, or any third party, for damages, including lost profits, lost savings, complaints, claims, litigation or other incidental, consequential or special damages which arise regarding this assignment.

If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

You cannot transfer this contract to anyone else without my permission. This contract stays in place and need not be renewed.

Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of English courts.