Guide
Washroom contract terms: auto-renewal, notice and price reviews
Updated
The headline price is negotiated once. The renewal terms are paid for years.
The four clauses that matter
- Initial term and rollover
- How long is the first term, and what does it roll into? A contract that rolls into another full multi-year term on silence is very different from one that rolls month to month.
- The notice window
- Notice is often required inside a defined window before the anniversary, not simply a period before it. Missing the window by a week can cost a full further term. Get it in writing, and put the date in a calendar the day you sign.
- Price review
- Annual uplifts are normal. Uncapped uplifts, or uplifts at the provider's discretion, are the thing to push back on. Ask for a cap or an index, and ask for year two and year three modelled on your own site.
- Exit and equipment removal
- If dispensers and dryers are rented, find out what removal at the end costs and who is liable for making good the wall. This charge tends to appear at the least convenient moment.
How to serve notice properly
- Find the clause and read it word for word, including the address and method notice must be sent to. Email to your account manager is often not valid service.
- Diarise the start of the notice window, not the end of the contract, and put a reminder a month before that.
- Serve in writing by the stated method and keep proof of sending.
- Ask for written acknowledgement, and chase until you have it.
Before you take quotes, know where you stand
The most common way a business ends up paying twice is signing a new contract while the old one is still inside its rollover. If you are in contract, work out the earliest lawful end date first, then take quotes to start from that date. Any provider worth using will happily quote for a future start.
What to keep on file
- The signed contract, with the unit schedule attached.
- The notice window dates in a shared calendar, not one person's inbox.
- The provider's waste carrier registration number, and a copy of the current registration.
- Your waste transfer notes or season ticket and schedule, kept for 2 years as GOV.UK requires.
This page describes commercial contract practice in the washroom services market. It is not legal advice: if a rollover clause is disputed, take advice on the specific wording.