Take it or leave it? Unfair contract term prohibitions and the construction industry

Key Points:

There are several terms typically found in "standard form" construction contracts that could now fall foul of the unfair contract term prohibitions in the Competition and Consumer Act.

From November 2016, Federal unfair contract terms legislation will apply when doing business with contractors and suppliers that are a small business (fewer than 20 employees).

Now is the time to be considering whether the terms of template contracts used when contracting with small businesses might be "unfair", and working out how that should be addressed. As discussed below, construction industry players have less than 8 months remaining to undertake this review - see the 'pre-start' checklist for some tips.