Terms and conditions for an AV, lighting and stage hire business

An AV, lighting and stage hire business carries a particular risk: expensive equipment leaves your warehouse, goes into a venue you do not control, is handled by people you have not met, and is returned late at night. The terms decide who pays when it is returned damaged or not returned at all. I draft them for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Sound, lighting, video and staging hire companies in England and Wales, from a van and a few flight cases to a warehouse with a crew rota. Most hires go to production companies, venues, agencies, schools, churches and corporate clients, all business customers. Some go to private parties and weddings, where the hirer is a consumer and different rules apply.

What matters in AV, lighting and stage hire terms

Dry hire, crewed hire and control of the equipment

Dry hire and crewed hire are different contracts and your terms should treat them that way. On a dry hire the hirer takes the kit, operates it and carries the risk, so the terms need to say that they will use competent operators, follow your instructions, not modify or repair anything, and not sub-hire it on without your consent. On a crewed hire your technicians are on site and you are supplying a service with a duty of reasonable care and skill. Mixing the two in one clause is how hire companies end up arguing about whether a failed dimmer was operator error or supplier fault.

Damage, loss and the hirer's insurance

Equipment should be at the hirer's risk from the moment it leaves your premises until you have it back and checked it in, including kit in transit and kit left in a loading bay overnight. Charge on current replacement value rather than written-down value, and reserve the right to charge continuing hire while a damaged item is repaired or replaced. Business hirers should carry hired-in plant cover for the full value with your interest noted, and the terms should let you ask for evidence before the van is loaded. A damage waiver charge is not insurance and must not be described as if it were.

Rigging, staging, power and site conditions

Truss, motors, stage decks and rostra carry loads, and the terms need to allocate the site risks that cause failures: the venue's rigging points, the floor the stage is set on, ground conditions outdoors, weather exposure and the power supply the hirer promised would be there. Make the hirer responsible for accurate information about access, load-in times and what sits above and below the working area, and require that only competent people build, climb or alter anything. What the terms cannot do is exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by your negligence, which the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 prohibits, so insurance matters as much as drafting. Hoists and motors are lifting equipment under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, hired kit is work equipment under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, and a stage build is construction work under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, so the terms should record who is responsible for inspection, test certificates and the build.

Cancellation, postponement and the hire period

Hire periods rarely match the calendar: a one day hire usually covers the day before for prep and the day after for return. Define the period precisely, say when late return charges begin and price extensions. Cancellation is where hire companies lose money, because the kit was held off the shelf and crew were booked. A sliding scale tied to how close to load-in the cancellation comes, with a higher band once cross-hire and freelance crew have been committed, is defensible if it reflects your actual loss. Postponement should be dealt with separately, with the deposit rolled to a new date subject to availability.

Payment, cross-hire and who owns the kit

For business hirers, set out the deposit, when the balance falls due, and what happens before you will open a credit account. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 allows statutory interest at 8% over the Bank of England base rate plus fixed compensation, and implies a thirty day credit period where none is agreed. Ownership never passes on a hire, so the terms should confirm the kit remains yours, prohibit the hirer selling, charging or parting with possession of it, and require them to tell you at once if an administrator, landlord or enforcement agent takes an interest in it.

Private hirers and consumer rights

Weddings, birthdays and private parties are consumer hires. Where the booking is agreed by email, phone or at the customer's home it falls within the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and the hirer has fourteen days to cancel, so terms taken months ahead need the cancellation information in them and an express request before you commit resources inside that period. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats disproportionate default charges and prepayments kept on cancellation as potentially unfair, so consumer damage charges and cancellation bands have to be genuinely proportionate rather than punitive.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted for your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want them checked and brought up to date. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of bespoke terms drafted for your business, reflecting the legal requirements that apply to your business and sector
• A note in plain English explaining the terms I have drafted for you
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions that protect your position and are drafted to withstand scrutiny from the other side
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly
• Your questions and comments answered by email or phone
• One round of amendments to finalise the terms ready for use

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers (I am happy to quote for this as an additional service if required)
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country
• Tax advice

Questions I am often asked

Is a damage waiver charge enough, or should I insist on the hirer's insurance?

A waiver is a limit you offer on your own terms, paid for out of your margin, so it should be capped, exclude theft from unattended vehicles and reckless handling, and never be presented as cover. On higher value hires, ask for a certificate from the hirer's insurer naming the equipment value before anything is loaded.

Can I charge for equipment that comes back late?

Charging for late return works if the terms fix when the hire period ends and at what rate it continues. Late return also costs you the next booking, so the clause should allow continuing hire charges plus the cost of cross-hiring a replacement for the customer you have let down. Without that wording you are claiming damages after the event with no agreed basis.

Am I liable if the venue's rigging points fail?

That turns on what you contracted to do. If you supplied motors and truss on dry hire and someone else hung them, the terms should place responsibility for the structure and its points on the hirer and the venue. If your crew rigged it, you are supplying a service and the question becomes whether reasonable care and skill were used. Keep your site survey notes.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Terms and conditions for an event production company

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.