Hire agreement forms

sugarwalsh

Hi all,
My husband and I have set up a small business and we are about to start hiring out equipment.
Does anyone know of any free forms, or the best forms, for a hire agreement?
Also, the items we will be hiring will be very handmade and essentially expensive to replace if broken/damaged. What's the best way of dealing with this? Is it to take a refundable deposit? Or to take card details in case people damage them?
Many thanks in advance
Megan

paddyrg

If you have high-value items you're renting out you totally need to make sure your hire agreement is watertight and that means seeing a lawyer who you pay for advice (and can sue if it's bad advice) - not a good idea to risk valuable items to internet strangers hire agreement advice!

Will the market you're in accept large cash deposits? Or pre-authorised credit card transactions? Can you come to a deal with an insurance broker where the hirer takes out mandatory insurance with the broker to cover loss/damages? Personally I'd prefer a cash deposit, then you *know* you're good.

Are the items robust enough for rental? Have you made them rugged enough to hire? If for instance they're made of unicorn breath then maybe they're just not suitable for rental, and a sturdy version will be a better rental bet.

Savvy_Sue

^^ what he said (particularly about the being able to sue bit ...)

sugarwalsh

Thank you so much for your advice. I have already asked my cousin - solicitor - for advice and I am waiting for them to come back to me.

Personally I prefer a cash deposit too - the items (6ft high lit letters) are very sturdy, and once in place they wont be moved (they weigh a tonne). We will be delivering and installing them. They are not £1000's expensive, but if they get damaged (They will be rented to weddings/parties so there is a risk) my husband will have to rebuild them or fix them.
My husband (A joiner) already has PLI, but I am figuring we need to add this to it, as obviously we would need to be covered.
Thanks again for your help, I will go chase my cousin up!

chalkie99

I read your post earlier, before the responses, and wondered if it could be connected to weddings.

I have a customer who organises wedding fayres and know rhat ome of their customers hire things such as chair covers so my initial thought was for you to "Google" companies offering similar things and see how they word their hire terms. If you search, for example, for "wedding chair cover hire" you can see how people already operate, how they charge for late returns, etc.

A couple of other thoughts -

Are you going to be taking bookings online, by post or in person?

In the online age it might deter people to have to be sent detailed t&c's for signing and return by post so you may have to word your terms online quite carefully with a checkbox confirmation of acceptance.

Your items seem too large and fragile for parcel company delivery so, presumably. you will deliver yourself? As they would probably have to be delivered to the venue before the day of the event have you considered who might be responsible for signing for their receipt in good condition?

Your contract will be with the person(s) hiring but the delivery will be to a venue who may not have a suitable place to store them or anyone prepared to sign for someone elses goods.

Finally, have you checked with your card processor that your agreement allows you to take refundable deposits?

Hope this helps.

edit - Sorry! Just read your post again!

I see you are delivering and installing so some comments above irrelevant.

You need to check that the venues will allow you set up when you need to and won't need to clear the room before you have been able to take your stuff away.

paddyrg

6 foot high letters - great idea :-) We made some steel ones for a gig once, had to crane them in at over a literal ton apiece!

They are very unstable/at risk of falling over, especially with kids climbing on them and everyone not paying attention at a wedding. We had heaps of bracing in place and they were inaccessible to the public, but if they were going on a lawn for instance it won't be level, ideal ground at all. Really think this through, as if a heavy garden ornament crushes a kids leg you're in all kinds of trouble.

Insure and get massive waivers. If you install the letters you're going to be liable for everything from lawn damage to Hiab access to...well...everything. This is why it is absolutely crucial to get your own PAID legal advice. Your cousin can give you pointers but their advice may not be insured if you don't go through their practice. You need to be watertight on this.

sugarwalsh

Thank you chalkie 99 and Paddy, you have given some really good advice and things for us to think about. Essentially a friend saw they were doing them 'down south' and thought it would be a great thing to start offering 'up north'.
They will be very heavy - and only suitable for indoor use as they are made from MDF. I had NO idea how much a sheet of that weighs! So yes, it is imperative that we have a big amount of insurance because I would hate for them to fall on anyone, big or little. They are steady, but probably not if someone decides to blooming climb on them, which is always a worry.
With regards to signing for them, I will look into that too. We will only be doing more local venues, certainly to start with, and I am hopeful that once we get going we will be familiar with lots of the local hotels so we will soon learn about how they operate.
I like the idea of having a 'check box' for online customers, and we still have to set up a credit card facility - any recommendations? Until now we have been making small letters so we have been using paypal for transactions.
The ideas are always the fun part, the practicalities less so...

paddyrg

Well at least flat MDF isn't going to need a HiAb to get into the venue! However you will be surprised just how stupid people are when they book things into a venue and you can be 100% certain some muppet will find the only 70-storey, no lift, tissue-paper floor, mousehole-doored room that won't even fit a single letter in and expect you to install and then whine. They WILL.

Weddings are not organised by rational event management companies but by nervous wreck brides with unrealistic expectations and zero organisational skills spending more money than they've ever handled before. It's a car crash waiting to happen which is why getting your hire agreements right is ESSENTIAL. There's a reason why people charge double for wedding hires - to cover the stress they generate ;-)

sugarwalsh

Ha, Paddy, you are so right! I think, because I was a (Fairly) laid back bride, that everyone will be like me. Warning heeded.

I will ask my cousin to point me in the right direction of getting a very good hire agreement drawn up. No doubt I will still be having nightmares about kids climbing on them, but there isn't much I can do about that I guess. Not sure barbed wire around the edges is an acceptable deterrent!

chalkie99

Set yourself up as a Limited company.

This way if little Jaden scales your work and it topples onto little Kylie, wrecking her future career as a top model or X Factor winner, then at least you can fold the company without fear of losing everything you own.

sugarwalsh

Good thinking, Chalkie99. I will look into it.
All advice welcome! Unless it's 'Don't do it'. Too late for that one!