M2
Kojar Ahmed
In many contracts, there are both implied and express terms, these are clauses in place to make sure
that both the contractor and the consumer fulfil their part of the contract, there are many different
types of clauses that cover things such as exemptions, conditions, warranties and price variations. I
will now look into the two types of terms and explain how they are used in a standard form contract.
Express terms concern the terms of the contract that are actually being agreed upon, the two basic
types of express terms are conditions and warranties. Conditions are the main points that are being
agreed upon in the contract and are vitally important to both the contractor and consumer. All
contracts will have conditions as it would be difficult to enforce a contract without them. If the
conditions within a contract are not fulfilled by the business or customer then it may be voided and
the customer may be able to sue for damages. An example of an express term in a Three contract
would be the agreed upon monthly price of a product. Express terms are common on standard form
contracts as they outline the important aspects of said contract. Other aspects of express terms that
are present on a standard form contract include exemption clauses and price variation clauses.
Warranties are another aspect of express terms. Warranties are the secondary points made in a
contract, these are not as important so therefore cannot void a contract, although the losing party
may still be able to claim for damages. An example of a secondary point in a contract would be if a
van driver agreed to deliver goods to a shop on the first day of each month, and the shop agreed to
pay them on the 30th of each month. The delivery to the shop would be a condition on the contract
that is vital to a shop that needs the goods to sell. Payment to the driver on the 30th of each month
is not as important, therefore, the contract would not be voided if the shop was one or two days late
on payment. Warranties are present on a typical standard form contract.
Exemption clauses are when one party attempts to limit their liability or responsibility, this occurs
when signs in a car park display ‘Car left at owner’s risk’ this has been done to exempt whoever owns
the car park from any claims. Exemption clauses are largely legal, however, it is illegal to have an
exemption that attempts to avoid any responsibility for causing death or injury. Exemption clauses
are largely present in standard form contracts in the form of a fine print, usually at the bottom of the
written contract.
A price variation clause is a time delay between the two individuals agreeing to the contract, this
may be between when they have agreed to sign a contract to when a contract is legally signed. In
contracts that include monthly payments, such as standard form contracts, businesses can include
price variation clauses that indicate the price of monthly payments may fluctuate because of
inflation. This is done to prevent customers from backing out of contract by claiming they did not
agree to a higher monthly payment. This is regularly done by phone companies such as Three, where
they indicate that the monthly price of a product may change.
Implied terms are the aspects of a contract which are automatically present as soon as a contract is
made, hence the name ‘implied’. Different types of contracts will have different implied terms, an
example may be the following:
● In a contract to lease a furnished house, there is an implied term that the house will be
habitable.