Library
What Basop looks for, before you paste anything.
The rules are grouped by contract type. This is the short version, so you know what a report is going to talk about.
Employment
- Restraint of trade: duration, radius and whether it protects a legitimate interest.
- IP assignment that claims inventions made outside working hours.
- Unilateral change clauses: the employer amending terms on short notice.
- Deductions from remuneration without a joint inspection.
- Leave, notice and severance that fall below the BCEA floor.
NDA
- Confidentiality that never ends, instead of two to three years.
- One-way obligations where you carry the risk and they do not.
- A definition of confidential information so wide it covers ordinary conversation.
- Liquidated damages for breach, far above any real loss.
- IP in ideas disclosed during the talks being claimed by the other side.
Freelance / statement of work
- Payment terms stretching past 30 days, and no interest on late payment.
- Unlimited revisions disguised as acceptance criteria.
- IP transferring before the invoice is paid.
- Indemnities that make you insure their business risk.
- Termination for convenience with no kill fee.
Lease
- Escalation and renewal that roll over automatically.
- Deposit held with no joint inspection in and out.
- Repairs shifted to the tenant, including structural.
- Early cancellation penalties and forfeiture of the deposit.
- No obligation on the landlord to refund a deposit with interest.
Loan / credit
- Interest and fees that push the cost of credit past the NCA limits.
- Acceleration on any missed instalment, with penalties on top.
- Suretyship hiding in the signature block.
- Consent to judgment and blanket consent to debit orders.
- No statement of account or settlement figure on early repayment.
SaaS / software
- Auto-renewal with a narrow cancellation window.
- Unilateral price increases and feature removal.
- Your data held hostage on termination, with no export.
- Uptime promises with no service credit and no remedy.
- Liability capped at one month of fees while your loss is unbounded.
Anything else
- Jurisdiction and arbitration clauses that move disputes far from you.
- Penalty clauses and fixed damages.
- Indemnities running the wrong way.
- Notice periods that are too short to react to.
- Whole-agreement clauses that cancel promises made in the meeting.