Terms and conditions for a marquee hire business

A marquee hire business needs terms that deal with the things that actually go wrong: a field too soft to get the lorry onto, a stake through a land drain, a wind forecast that makes the build unsafe, a booking cancelled after the linings were ordered, and a burn in the roof found on the Monday. I draft customer terms around your kit and your build process for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Marquee, tipi, stretch tent, clearspan and yurt hire businesses in England and Wales, whether you supply weddings and private parties, corporate events, agricultural shows or construction and utility clients. Most operators sell to consumers and to businesses in the same week. The two groups are treated very differently by the law, so one set of terms has to be drafted with both in mind.

What matters in marquee hire terms

The site, the ground and what is buried under it

You are driving steel into land you have never owned and rarely surveyed. Your terms should make the customer responsible for confirming that they have the landowner's permission, for identifying drains, soakaways, water pipes, irrigation and buried cables, and for telling you about septic tanks and recent groundworks. They should also set out what ground conditions you need for vehicle access, what happens when the field is too wet to build on safely, and that ruts, worn grass and peg holes are an expected consequence of a marquee rather than damage you reinstate.

Wind, weather and your right to stop

Deciding not to build, to postpone a dismantle or to evacuate and drop a structure is a safety decision, and your terms must let you make it without turning it into a breach of contract. I draft that by reference to the wind limits in your own method statement and manufacturer guidance, rather than leaving it to argument on the day. Where the customer is a consumer, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats one-sided rights with suspicion, so the clause needs a matching obligation on you: reschedule where you can, refund what you have not performed, and say so plainly.

Deposits, the cancellation ladder and the balance

Weddings are booked far ahead and cancelled at every stage, so the terms need a cancellation ladder tied to when you committed cost: linings ordered, crew booked, the date held. Keeping a consumer's prepayment with nothing offered in return sits squarely on the grey list under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, so the charges must reflect what you genuinely lose. For business customers the balance should fall due before the build, with interest and fixed compensation claimed under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 if it does not arrive.

Consumer bookings agreed at the kitchen table

Most private hires are agreed at the customer's home after a site visit, or by email and phone. Both routes fall within the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which give the consumer fourteen days to cancel. If you order bespoke linings or hold crew inside that period without the customer's express request, you may not be paid for it, and where the cancellation information was never given the period can extend by up to twelve months. Your booking form and your terms have to solve this together.

Damage, loss and who insures the structure on site

Once the marquee is up it sits unattended on someone else's land with a hundred guests, candles and a band in it. The terms should say that the customer is responsible for the structure, linings, flooring and furniture during the hire period, list the charges for burns, stains, torn linings and bent legs, and require either insurance covering hired-in equipment at replacement value or acceptance of your damage waiver and its excess. A cap on your own liability to business customers has to be reasonable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, and cannot touch death or personal injury caused by negligence.

What is included, and what the customer does themselves

Disputes come from the edges of the package: flooring and matting, lighting, heating, power, toilets and furniture supplied by others, and decorations the customer hangs from your frame. Set out what you supply, what you subcontract, what capacity the layout is designed for and that exits and gangways must stay clear. If you supply LPG heating, only an engineer registered under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 may carry out the gas work, and your terms should forbid the customer moving or reconnecting anything. Overrun charges for delayed dismantle belong here too.

What it costs

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

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. 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 terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• 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

Questions I am often asked

What if the field is too soft to get the lorry onto?

That should be an access condition in the terms, not a negotiation in a gateway at seven in the morning. I draft a clause defining the access and ground you need, what you will attempt with matting or a tractor pull, who pays for it, and what happens to the booking if the site cannot safely be built on at all.

Can I charge a couple who cancel a wedding a year in advance?

Charging is possible, but the amount has to reflect what you actually lose at that point in the calendar. A retained deposit covering administration and the date held is defensible a year out. A demand for the whole hire fee, with the season still open to rebook, is the kind of default charge a consumer can challenge.

Should the customer insure the marquee while it is standing?

Many will not have thought about it. Private customers often assume their home policy covers a structure in a field, and it rarely does. I draft the choice clearly: evidence of cover for hired-in equipment, or your damage waiver with a stated excess and exclusions, agreed before the build rather than after the storm.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Ask Caesar, £495 a month

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.