Terms and Conditions
Last updated: 15 October 2026
1. About these terms
1.1 These terms are the agreement between BWAR Limited (“we”, “us”), a company registered in England and Wales with company number 8933243 and its registered office at 51 Upper Huntbach Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 2BX, and the person or business named in the Order (“you”).
1.2 They apply to every Order, and to every service we provide, including website design and build, hosting and care plans, domain names, search engine optimisation (SEO), paid advertising, software development and related work.
1.3 The agreement is formed when you accept our quote or proposal in writing (including by email, online signature or paying an invoice), or when we start work with your agreement, whichever happens first. By doing so you accept these terms.
1.4 If an Order and these terms conflict, the Order applies to that point only. Our terms apply instead of any terms you try to use, such as those in a purchase order.
1.5 These terms are written for business customers. If you are an individual buying for purposes outside your trade, business or profession (a consumer), nothing in these terms limits your legal rights as a consumer, including your right to cancel within 14 days under clause 6.9, and the rest of this agreement applies only as the law allows.
1.6 We will point out any term that is unusual or particularly onerous (for example clause 6 on refunds and clause 9 on ownership) before you accept, and you confirm that you have read them.
2. Definitions
In this agreement:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Order | The quote, proposal, order form or statement of work you accept, which sets out the Services and Charges |
| Services | Everything we agree to provide in the Order, including any hosting, care plan, domain, SEO, advertising or software work |
| Charges | The fees for the Services set out in the Order or in our current price list, plus VAT and any agreed expenses |
| Project | A one-off piece of work, such as building a website, with a start and an end |
| Hosting Plan | A continuing service under which we host, maintain or support your website, including any care plan |
| Initial Term | The first period of a Hosting Plan, which is 12 months from the start date unless the Order says otherwise |
| Additional Term | Each renewal period of a Hosting Plan under clause 7 |
| Website | The finished website we build for you under a Project, as described in clause 9 |
| Your Content | Text, images, logos, video, data and other material you or your people give us |
| Deliverables | What we create for you under the Order, including the Website |
| Business Day | A day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in England |
| Sales Agreement | The document we send you with the Order, which sets out the Charges and the payment terms |
3. Our services and the Project
3.1 We will provide the Services with reasonable skill and care, and in line with the Order.
3.2 A quote is valid for 30 days unless it says otherwise. The scope of a Project is what the Order describes. Anything outside it is extra work.
3.3 Each Project includes three rounds of revisions to the design and one round after the content is added. A round means one consolidated set of changes sent to us together. Further changes are extra work.
3.4 If you ask for a change to the scope, we will tell you in writing what it will cost and how it affects the timetable, and we only do the work once you agree.
3.5 Dates and timescales we give are estimates, and time is not of the essence. We will use reasonable endeavours to meet them, but they depend on you meeting your responsibilities in clause 4.
3.6 We may use subcontractors and the tools, plugins and services we think are best suited to the work. We are responsible for their work as if it were our own.
4. Your responsibilities
4.1 You will give us the information, Your Content, feedback, decisions and access we reasonably need, on time and in a usable form. You are responsible for the accuracy and legality of Your Content.
4.2 You will nominate one person to give instructions and approvals on your behalf. We can rely on what that person tells us.
4.3 If you are late or incomplete, we may move the timetable, and if the delay lasts more than 30 days we may treat the Project as paused and invoice the work done so far.
4.4 You will keep any logins we give you secure and tell us at once if you think they have been misused.
4.5 Unless we agree otherwise, you are responsible for writing the text for your website. We offer a professional copywriting service, and can give you a quote on request.
4.6 You are responsible for making sure your business uses the Deliverables lawfully, including meeting any legal duties that apply to your site, such as privacy notices and cookie consent for your own visitors, unless the Order says we will do this.
5. Fees and payment
5.1 You will pay the Charges as set out in our Sales Agreement, which we send you with the Order. Payment is usually in full, or in two equal instalments, but we may agree a different payment schedule with you in writing for bespoke work.
5.2 We invoice for the Charges, and you will pay each invoice within 14 days of the invoice date, without deduction, by the method on the invoice.
5.3 All Charges exclude VAT, which you will pay at the rate that applies. Third-party costs we pay on your behalf, such as domain names, licences, premium plugins and advertising budgets, are charged to you at cost unless the Order says otherwise.
5.4 If you do not pay on time, we may charge interest on the overdue amount at 8% a year above the Bank of England base rate, from the due date until payment, as well as any other rights the law gives us for late payment.
5.5 If an invoice is overdue by 7 days or more, we may, after telling you in writing, suspend the Services (including hosting and the website going offline) until you have paid in full. We do not charge a fee for suspending, but you must pay any reasonable cost of restoring the service.
5.6 If you dispute part of an invoice, you will tell us within 14 days of its date, say why, and pay the rest on time.
5.7 We may increase the Charges for a Hosting Plan at the start of an Additional Term, or by giving you at least 30 days’ written notice, in line with clause 7.5.
6. Cancellation and refunds
6.1 No refunds. Except as clauses 6.6 and 6.9 provide, we do not give refunds. If you decide not to start a Project, or not to continue with one, any amount you have paid is not refundable.
6.2 Credit instead. Instead of a refund, we will hold the amount you have paid as credit on your account, less:
the value of any work we have already done, calculated at our standard rates, and
any third-party costs we have already paid or committed for you, such as domain names, licences or advertising spend that cannot be recovered.
6.3 You can use the credit against another Project or other work from us. It has no cash value, cannot be paid out or transferred to anyone else, and does not cover Hosting Plan fees unless we agree.
6.4 Credit is valid for 12 months from the date of the payment it comes from. After that it expires and we have no further obligation to you for it.
6.5 To use credit, ask us in writing, and we will apply it to a new Order or invoice.
6.6 If we cancel or cannot deliver. If we cancel a Project, or cannot provide the Services for a reason that is our fault, we will refund any amount you have paid for work we have not carried out. Clause 6.1 does not apply in that case.
6.7 Hosting Plans. The cancellation rules for Hosting Plans are in clause 7. Fees already paid for a period that has started are not refundable.
6.8 Your legal rights. This clause does not affect any right you have under the law that cannot be excluded or limited, including your rights if you are a consumer (clauses 1.5 and 6.9).
6.9 Consumers’ right to cancel. If you are a consumer and we make this agreement with you online, by phone or email, or away from our business premises, you have the right to cancel it within 14 days without giving a reason. The 14 days start on the day the agreement is made.
To cancel, tell us clearly by email to hello@bwar.co.uk, saying that you cancel your order and giving the order details. No form is needed.
If you ask us in writing to start work within the 14 days, you must pay us for what we have done up to the time you tell us you are cancelling, in proportion to the full price. If we have fully completed the Services within the 14 days, with your clear agreement, and you have accepted that you lose the right to cancel once we have, you can no longer cancel.
We will repay anything you have paid, less any amount you owe us under this clause, within 14 days of receiving your notice. Clauses 6.1 to 6.5 do not apply to a cancellation under this clause.
7. Hosting and care plans
7.1 Term. A Hosting Plan starts on the date in the Order and runs for the Initial Term. Fees are as set out in the Order and are payable monthly in advance unless the Order says otherwise.
7.2 Renewal. At the end of the Initial Term, the Hosting Plan renews automatically for an Additional Term of 12 months, and again at the end of each Additional Term, unless it is cancelled under clause 7.3.
7.3 Cancelling. To cancel, you must give us at least 30 days’ notice before the Initial Term or the current Additional Term ends. Notice must be in writing by email to hello@bwar.co.uk. You can tell your account manager first, but notice only counts once you have confirmed it by email and we have received it. If you do not give notice in time, the next Additional Term applies and the fees for it are payable.
7.4 What is included. Hosting includes the server resources, security and software updates and support described in the Order. Automatic updates are only available while the Hosting Plan is active and paid up. For websites on our managed WordPress hosting, we make regular offsite backups of the website files and databases, and we decide how often they are taken and how long they are kept. Backups are for our use in restoring your site. You should also keep your own copy of Your Content.
7.5 Price changes. We may change the fees for a Hosting Plan by giving you at least 30 days’ written notice, which can take effect at any time after the Initial Term. If you do not accept the change, you may cancel before it takes effect by giving written notice, and the old fee applies until the end of the notice period.
7.6 Availability. We will use reasonable endeavours to keep the hosting available, but because the Services rely on computer and telecommunications systems, we do not promise that it will be uninterrupted or error-free. We may carry out maintenance, and will try to tell you in advance of anything that is likely to cause a significant interruption.
7.7 Reasonable use. Hosting must be used for the website described in the Order and within normal resource limits. If your use is putting other customers or the server at risk, we may ask you to reduce it or move to a larger plan, and may restrict the service if you do not.
7.8 When a Hosting Plan ends. If it ends for any reason, we will keep your website live until the end date, then may take it offline and, after 30 days, delete it. We will give you a copy of the Website files and database on request, and provided you have paid everything owed to us, as set out in clause 9.
8. Domain names
8.1 We will register domain names for you where the Order says so. Registration is subject to the rules of the registry and registrar, such as Nominet for .uk domains, which you agree to follow.
8.2 A domain name is not successfully registered until it appears in the relevant registry’s WHOIS database. If it is unavailable when we try to register it, we will refund the fee for that domain name. That is the full extent of our liability.
8.3 We will use reasonable endeavours to renew domain names for as long as the renewal fee has been paid. If we cannot renew a domain name and it is lost as a result, our liability is limited to the renewal fee for that domain name.
8.4 Where we register a domain name for you, we may hold it in BWAR’s name as the registered holder, but it belongs to you. If you ask us in writing to transfer it to you or to another provider, and everything you owe us has been paid, we will do so within 14 days.
9. Ownership and licences of the website
9.1 What the Website is. The Website is the design, code and content that we create specially for you under the Order. It does not include Excluded Material (clause 9.5).
9.2 When ownership passes. When you have paid the Charges for the Project in full, including VAT, we assign to you all copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Website, in the form we delivered it. This clause is that assignment, and takes effect automatically on payment. Until then you have a licence to use the Website only for the Project and for your business purposes, and the rights remain ours.
9.3 Websites with a Hosting Plan. If the Order includes a Hosting Plan, ownership of the Website does not pass, and we will not hand over the files, until you have also paid the Hosting Plan fees for the whole of the Initial Term. This is an important term, and we will point it out to you before you accept the Order. After the Initial Term, you may cancel the Hosting Plan under clause 7.3 and take the Website with you.
9.4 Getting the files. Once ownership has passed and everything you owe us has been paid, we will give you a copy of the Website files and database within 14 days of your written request. If you want us to help move the site to another host, we may charge for our time at our standard rates.
9.5 Excluded Material. The following stay with their owners, and are not assigned to you:
our own tools, frameworks, code libraries, templates and know-how, which we use across many projects (“BWAR Tools”). We grant you a permanent, non-exclusive, worldwide licence to use them as part of the Website
third-party software, including WordPress, themes and plugins, which are licensed on their own terms, and which you agree to follow
stock images, fonts and other licensed material, which you may use only as their licence allows
9.6 Updates. Automatic updates to plugins, themes and core software are only available while a Hosting Plan is active and paid up. If you leave, you are responsible for keeping the Website updated and secure.
10. Content, images and third-party materials
10.1 By giving us Your Content, you confirm that you own it or have the right to use it, and that using it as we are asked to will not break anyone’s rights or the law.
10.2 You will repay us for any loss, claim or cost we suffer because Your Content infringes someone else’s rights, and you will give us reasonable help in dealing with such a claim.
10.3 Please give us images, graphics and photographs in the highest resolution you can, in editable digital form. We may not be able to use low-quality files.
10.4 Each Project includes images from one or more stock libraries on a reasonable-use basis, usually up to 10 images. We may charge for more at a rate that we agree with you in advance. Stock images are licensed to you only as the library’s licence allows.
10.5 We do not write copy for your website unless the Order says so. We offer a professional copywriting service and will quote on request.
10.6 We may refuse or remove any content that we reasonably believe is unlawful, offensive or likely to put us or our other customers at risk.
11. Search engine optimisation (SEO)
11.1 We will use skill and care to improve how your website appears in search results. We do not control search engines, their ranking decisions, their updates, or when they index your website. For that reason we do not guarantee any ranking, any increase in visitors, enquiries or sales, and we cannot estimate them.
11.2 SEO usually takes several months to show results. You are paying for the work we do, not for a particular result.
11.3 You will give us the access we need, such as to Google Search Console and Google Analytics, and tell us before you make big changes to your website.
12. Paid advertising (Google Ads and similar)
12.1 We will set up and manage advertising campaigns as the Order describes. We do not guarantee any number of clicks, enquiries or sales.
12.2 Advertising spend is separate from our management fee. The advertising account may be in our name or in yours, depending on the arrangement we agree for your campaign. The Order will say which, and whether you pay the advertising platform directly or pay us to do so.
12.3 If we control your advertising budget, you must pay us at least 5 days before the campaign’s renewal date. If we have not received payment by then, we may suspend the campaign until we have all the money.
12.4 Advertising platforms may spend more than the agreed daily budget on some days and less on others. This is normal, and we cannot control it. We will manage spend so that it stays within the agreed budget over the period.
12.5 You are responsible for the products, offers and claims in your adverts, and for making sure they follow the law and the platform’s rules. We may pause a campaign if we reasonably think it breaks them, or if the platform suspends your account.
12.6 If a campaign ends and any advertising budget we hold for you is unspent, we will return it or hold it as credit, as you ask us to.
13. Support and warranty after launch
13.1 For 30 days after the Website goes live, we will fix, free of charge, any fault where the Website does not work as described in the Order, if you tell us about it in writing in that period.
13.2 This does not cover faults caused by changes made by someone else, Your Content, third-party software or services, a hosting or domain problem outside our control, or your use of the Website in a way we did not agree.
13.3 After that period, support is provided under your Hosting Plan if you have one, and otherwise as extra work at our standard rates.
14. Data protection
14.1 Roles. For personal data held on or collected by websites we host or manage for you (“Client Data”), you are the controller and we are your processor. Each of us will follow data protection law, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are the controller of your own contact and billing details, which we use as our privacy policy describes.
14.2 Details of the processing.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Subject matter and purpose | Hosting, maintaining, securing, backing up and supporting your website |
| Duration | The term of this agreement, plus the time we take to delete or return the data |
| Types of personal data | Whatever your website collects or holds, for example names, contact details, order details and account details |
| People the data is about | Your website visitors, customers, enquirers and staff |
14.3 What we will do. When we process Client Data, we will:
only act on your written instructions, which include this agreement and any reasonable written instruction you give us, unless the law requires otherwise, and tell you if we think an instruction would break the law
make sure everyone we allow to see Client Data is bound by confidentiality
keep Client Data secure with suitable technical and organisational measures
help you, taking account of the nature of the processing, to deal with requests from people exercising their rights, and to meet your duties on security, breach reporting and data protection impact assessments
tell you without undue delay after we become aware of a personal data breach affecting Client Data
at the end of the Services, delete or return Client Data as you choose, unless the law requires us to keep it
give you the information you reasonably need to show that we are following this clause, and allow audits by you or someone you appoint, on reasonable notice, no more than once a year and at your cost
14.4 Sub-processors. You give us general permission to use other organisations to help us provide the Services, for example for hosting, backups and email delivery. We will have a written contract with each that gives equivalent protection, and we stay responsible for them. We will give you a list on request. If we plan to add or replace one, we will tell you, and you may object on reasonable data protection grounds.
14.5 Transfers. We will not transfer Client Data outside the UK unless there are safeguards the law accepts, such as UK adequacy regulations or an approved international transfer agreement.
14.6 Your duties. You are responsible for having a lawful basis for collecting Client Data, and for giving your visitors and customers the privacy notices and cookie choices the law requires on your website.
15. Confidentiality
15.1 Each of us will keep the other’s confidential information secret, use it only for this agreement, and only share it with staff, advisers and subcontractors who need it and are bound to keep it confidential.
15.2 This does not apply to information that is public through no fault of ours, that we already held, that we get lawfully from someone else, or that the law requires us to disclose.
16. Our liability
16.1 What we cannot limit. Nothing in this agreement limits or excludes our liability for:
death or personal injury caused by our negligence
fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or
any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded under English law.
16.2 Losses we are not liable for. Subject to clause 16.1, we are not liable to you, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, for loss of profit, anticipated profit, revenue, anticipated savings, business opportunities or goodwill, or for any indirect or consequential loss or damage.
16.3 Data and software. Subject to clause 16.1, we are not liable for damage to software or for loss or corruption of data, except where it is caused by our failure to take the backups required by clause 7.4, or by our breach of clause 14. In that case, our liability is limited to the reasonable cost of restoring your data from the most recent good backup, and clause 16.4 also applies. You should keep your own copy of Your Content.
16.4 Overall cap. Subject to clause 16.1, our total liability to you for all claims arising from events in any 12-month period, under or connected with this agreement or any related contract (including website design, SEO, paid advertising or hosting), whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, will not be more than 100% of the Charges you have actually paid us under this agreement and any related contract in that 12-month period.
16.5 Things outside our control. We are not liable for the decisions or actions of search engines, advertising platforms, domain registries or other third parties, for faults in third-party software, or for interruptions to the Services caused by things we could not reasonably control.
16.6 You agree that these limits are reasonable, given the Charges and the risks involved. If you are a consumer, this clause applies only as far as the law allows.
17. Ending the agreement
17.1 Either of us may end this agreement, or an Order, by written notice with immediate effect if the other:
commits a serious breach and, if it can be put right, does not do so within 14 days of being asked in writing, or
becomes insolvent, goes into administration or liquidation, makes an arrangement with creditors, or stops trading.
17.2 We may also end an Order, or suspend the Services, if you do not pay as clause 5.5 describes, or if Your Content or your use of the Services is unlawful.
17.3 If this agreement or an Order ends, you must pay us for all Services provided and all costs we have committed to up to the end date. If you end it other than for our serious breach, clause 6 applies. If we end it because of your breach, we do not have to give you credit.
17.4 Ending the agreement does not affect rights that have already built up. Clauses 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16 and 19 carry on after it ends.
18. Promotional use of your name and logo
18.1 You agree that we may say that you are our client, using your company or trading name, and that we may show screenshots of the Website, in our marketing and promotional materials. You give us a free licence to use your company name, trading name and logo for this, on our website, on social media, and in online and offline marketing.
18.2 We will not use your confidential information or financial details. You can withdraw this permission at any time by writing to hello@bwar.co.uk. We will then stop using your name and logo in new material within a reasonable time.
19. General
19.1 Events outside our control. Neither of us is liable for a delay or failure caused by something beyond its reasonable control, such as power or internet failure, a cyber attack that could not reasonably have been prevented, fire, flood or government action. This does not excuse late payment.
19.2 Whole agreement. This agreement is the whole agreement between us on its subject. You confirm that you have not relied on anything we said that is not written in it. This does not limit liability for fraud.
19.3 Changes. A change to an Order or these terms is only valid if agreed in writing. We may change these terms for new Orders. For an existing Hosting Plan, we will give you at least 30 days’ written notice of a change, and if the change is significant and unfavourable to you, you may cancel under clause 7.3 before it takes effect.
19.4 Notices. Notices must be in writing and sent by email, to hello@bwar.co.uk for us and to the email address in the Order for you. An email is treated as received on the next Business Day.
19.5 Transfer. We may transfer our rights and duties under this agreement to another company, if we tell you. You may not transfer yours without our written consent.
19.6 Other points. If any part of this agreement cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we do not lose it. Nothing here makes either of us the other’s partner, agent or employee. Nobody who is not a party to this agreement has any right to enforce it under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
19.7 Governing law. This agreement, and any dispute or claim arising out of or connected with it, is governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, except that if you are a consumer you may also bring a claim in the courts of the part of the UK where you live.
