AI Contract Review Before You Sign: 12 Clauses to Check in a Lease or Supplier Deal
How to use an AI agent to review a contract before you sign in 2026: the 12 clauses that cost small businesses money in a commercial lease, a supplier agreement or a client contract, from break conditions and personal guarantees to liability caps and who owns the work, what the law says, four prompts, and when to pay a solicitor.
The Legal Services Board's survey of more than 10,000 small businesses found that 32% had a legal problem in the previous year, that only a quarter got professional help, and that about half dealt with the problem alone or did nothing. The contracts behind those problems were mostly signed in a hurry: a ten-year lease read on a phone, a supplier's terms accepted in a checkout box, a client's agreement signed because the work started on Monday. A 2024 Weightmans survey found 39% of British adults sign contracts they do not understand, and nothing suggests business owners do better at 11 pm.
An agent can read the whole document in a minute, in plain English, and tell you where the money is. This guide is the AI contract review method for a small business before signing: the 12 clauses that matter in a commercial lease, a supplier deal or a client contract, what UK law says about each one, the four prompts that get the review, the negotiation email and the red lines done, and the honest line on when to pay a solicitor and what that costs. The law was checked on 21 October 2026.
Want the first review before you read on? Open Jobbit, attach the contract as a PDF with prompt 1 below, and you will have the 12-clause summary and the questions to ask in a few minutes. Free plan, 100 credits a day, no card.
The 12 clauses that cost small businesses money
| Clause | What to look for | The trap |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The parties and any personal guarantee | Who is signing, and whether a director is guaranteeing the company's debts personally | The FSB found 78% of directors who applied for finance in 2025 were asked for a personal guarantee; a guarantee in a lease outlives the company |
| 2. Term, renewal and notice | How long, whether it renews automatically, and how much notice ends it | A 12-month contract that renews for another 12 unless cancelled 90 days before |
| 3. Termination and break conditions | What you must do to leave early and by when | Lease breaks usually need six months' notice, all rent and interest paid and vacant possession; a £130 interest shortfall has defeated a break |
| 4. Payment terms | Days to pay, late interest, deposits | If nothing is agreed the law gives 30 days; terms over 60 days must not be grossly unfair to the supplier; statutory interest is 8% above base, 11.75% now |
| 5. Price changes and rent reviews | How and when the price can rise | Upward-only rent reviews are still allowed in new leases until the 2026 Act's ban is switched on, expected 2027 at the earliest |
| 6. Liability caps and exclusions | What each side is liable for and the limit | Death or injury from negligence can never be excluded; other exclusions in a supplier's standard terms must be reasonable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, but that Act does not protect a tenant against lease terms |
| 7. Indemnities | Promises to cover the other side's losses | An uncapped indemnity is a blank cheque |
| 8. Who owns the work | Copyright and other rights in what is produced | A freelancer or agency owns the copyright unless it is assigned in writing and signed; an employee's work belongs to the employer |
| 9. Confidentiality and data | What you must keep secret, and who processes personal data | A supplier handling your customer data needs UK GDPR processor terms |
| 10. Exclusivity and non-compete | Whether you can work with anyone else | A three-month cap on employee non-competes was announced in 2023 and is still not law; business exclusivity clauses stand as written |
| 11. Repairs, insurance and service levels | A lease's repair standard and dilapidations; a supplier's service levels and credits | Dilapidations claims are capped at the lower of the repair cost and the loss in the property's value, but still arrive at the end |
| 12. Notices, law and disputes | How to serve notice, which law applies, where disputes go | A break notice served by email when the lease says recorded post is no notice at all |
Build the review in four prompts
1. The 12-clause summary
Message to send
Attached is a contract I am being asked to sign. Read all of it, including the schedules. Give me: (1) a 150-word plain-English summary of what I am agreeing to, (2) a table of the 12 clauses (parties and guarantees, term and renewal, termination, payment, price changes, liability, indemnities, ownership of work, confidentiality and data, exclusivity, repairs or service levels, notices and disputes) with the clause number, what it says in one sentence and a risk rating of low, medium or high for a small business, (3) every date and deadline in the document, (4) the five questions I should ask before signing, and (5) anything that is missing that I would expect to see. Do not give legal advice; tell me what the words say and where I should get a solicitor to look.
You create a free account first (an email address is all it takes, no card). Your message is kept and sent the moment you are in.
2. The lease check
Message to send
This is a commercial lease for a shop. Check and report on: whether it is contracted out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and what that means for my right to renew, the break clause and every condition attached to it, the notice formalities for the break, the rent review clause and whether it is upward only, the repair standard and what I could face in dilapidations, the service charge and any cap, the permitted use, assignment and subletting, the deposit and when I get it back, and whether I am asked to sign a personal guarantee. For each, quote the clause and say in one line what I should ask for instead.
You create a free account first (an email address is all it takes, no card). Your message is kept and sent the moment you are in.
3. The supplier or subscription check
Message to send
This is a supplier agreement. Check the term and whether it auto-renews, the notice I must give to cancel and by what method, every fee including set-up, exit and price-rise clauses, what happens to my data when I leave, the service levels and what I get if they are missed, the limit on the supplier's liability, any exclusivity or minimum spend, and who owns anything they produce for me. Then draft three changes I should ask for, in order of how much money they protect.
You create a free account first (an email address is all it takes, no card). Your message is kept and sent the moment you are in.
4. The negotiation email and the red lines
Message to send
From the review, write a polite email to the other side asking for the changes, with the clause numbers, the wording I want and a sentence on why each is reasonable. Then give me my three red lines: the terms I should not sign under any circumstances without a solicitor's advice, and a one-paragraph brief I can send to a solicitor so they can quote for reviewing only those clauses.
You create a free account first (an email address is all it takes, no card). Your message is kept and sent the moment you are in.
Four prompts, about an hour including the reading, and the solicitor's brief at the end is what turns a £1,500 full review into a fixed fee for three clauses.
What the law actually says
- Leases. A business tenancy in England and Wales continues at the end of the term under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 unless the lease was contracted out, which needs the landlord's prescribed notice and your signed declaration before you commit. Breaks fail on conditions, so read every one. Dilapidations are capped by section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 at the lower of the repair cost and the fall in the property's value. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, given Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, bans upward-only rent reviews in new leases and renewals, but it needs commencement regulations, expected in 2027 at the earliest; fixed or stepped rises and two-way reviews stay allowed. The RICS Code for Leasing Business Premises binds surveyors, not landlords.
- Supplier and client contracts. The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 stops anyone excluding liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, and makes other exclusions in a supplier's written standard terms pass a reasonableness test. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives 30 days when no term is agreed, allows terms over 60 days only when not grossly unfair to the supplier, and adds 8% above the Bank of England base rate (3.75% since the summer, so 11.75%) plus £40, £70 or £100 per late invoice.
- Who owns the work. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, an employer owns what an employee makes in the course of their job; a freelancer or agency owns what it makes for you unless the contract assigns it in writing, signed. If you are paying for a logo, a website or a manual, clause 8 decides whether you own it.
- Subscriptions. The consumer rules in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (clear pre-contract information, renewal reminders, easy cancellation, a cooling-off period after a trial or a renewal of 12 months or more) start in January 2027, and they protect consumers only. A business signing a software subscription has the contract and nothing else.
- Personal guarantees and non-competes. A personal guarantee makes a director liable for the company's debt with their own assets; Purbeck's research in November 2025 put one in three SME loans under a guarantee averaging nearly £180,000, and the FSB found 24% of directors asked for one then declined the finance. The government said on 9 October 2026 that it will restrict non-compete clauses in employment contracts, with details expected around the Budget on 28 October; until legislation passes, the clause in front of you stands.
When to pay a solicitor, and what it costs
An agent explains the words and finds the questions. It is not a regulated adviser: only a firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority comes with compulsory professional indemnity insurance, the Compensation Fund and access to the Legal Ombudsman, and an AI tool carries none of those. Use the agent for every contract, and a solicitor for the ones where the downside is your house or your business: a lease, anything with a personal guarantee, an uncapped indemnity, a contract worth more than a year of your profit, or any clause the agent rates high that the other side will not change.
| Option | Cost (21 October 2026) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Rocket Lawyer membership | £34.99 a month after a 7-day trial, document review included; £120 for a one-off review without membership | A solicitor-reviewed document and a question service |
| Sprintlaw contract review | £100 to £1,500 fixed fee depending on the document | Fixed-fee review; not an SRA-regulated firm |
| Solicitor at a small firm | The courts' 2026 guideline hourly rates outside London run from £201 to £295; a three-clause review from a brief is usually an hour or two | Regulated advice, insured, with the Ombudsman behind it |
| Jobbit agent | Free plan, 100 credits a day; Go £7 a month | The summary, the 12-clause check, the negotiation email and the solicitor's brief, for every contract |
How an AI agent differs from pasting a PDF into a chatbot
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Manus and Meta's Muse will all summarise a contract. Jobbit runs the process:
- It reads the schedules and the small print, not just the first ten pages, and keeps the clause numbers.
- It checks against the 12-clause list every time, so nothing is forgotten on the third contract of the week.
- It keeps every date from every signed contract in one diary: break dates, notice deadlines, renewal windows, rent reviews.
- It drafts the negotiation email and the solicitor's brief so you pay for three clauses, not thirty pages.
- It stores the signed version and tells you what changed from the draft.
- It will not pretend to be a solicitor, and prompt 1 tells it not to.
A one-hour plan
- Minutes 0 to 10. Attach the contract. Run prompt 1. Read the summary and the high-risk rows.
- Minutes 10 to 25. Run prompt 2 for a lease or prompt 3 for a supplier or client contract.
- Minutes 25 to 40. Run prompt 4. Send the email.
- Minutes 40 to 60. If any red line survives, send the brief to a solicitor and ask for a fixed fee. Put every date the agent found in the diary before you sign.
Review the next contract on the free plan: 100 credits a day, no card, the 12-clause check every time.
Open JobbitRead next
- AI document generator: the contracts you send, drafted to the UK rules.
- How much does a website cost for a UK small business?: the ownership clause that matters when you pay for one.
- AI policy for a small business: the rules for using AI on confidential documents.
Frequently asked questions
Can AI review a contract?
It can read the whole document, summarise it in plain English, flag the clauses that usually cost small businesses money, list every date and deadline, and draft the questions and the negotiation email. An agent on Jobbit does that from prompt 1 in a few minutes. It is not regulated legal advice, so the high-risk clauses still go to a solicitor.
What should I check before signing a commercial lease?
Whether it is contracted out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, every condition on the break clause and how notice must be served, whether the rent review is upward only, the repair standard and your dilapidations exposure, the service charge, assignment and subletting, the deposit, and whether a personal guarantee is attached. Prompt 2 checks all of them and quotes the clauses.
Is an upward-only rent review still legal in 2026?
Yes for now. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and will ban upward-only reviews in new leases and renewals, but the ban needs commencement regulations, expected in 2027 at the earliest. Existing leases are unaffected, and fixed or stepped increases and two-way reviews remain allowed.
How long does a business customer have to pay an invoice?
Thirty days if the contract says nothing, under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Terms longer than 60 days are allowed only if they are not grossly unfair to the supplier. Late payment carries statutory interest at 8% above base, 11.75% at the moment, plus £40, £70 or £100 per invoice.
Who owns the work a freelancer or agency produces for me?
The freelancer or agency, unless the contract assigns the copyright to you in writing and is signed. An employee's work belongs to the employer. Check clause 8 before paying for a logo, a website, photographs or a manual, and ask for an assignment of all rights on payment.
Should I sign a personal guarantee?
Only with a solicitor's advice and a clear view of the worst case, because it makes you personally liable for the company's debt. The FSB found 78% of directors applying for finance in 2025 were asked for one and 24% then walked away. Ask for a cap, a time limit and a release when the lease or loan ends.
How much does a solicitor charge to review a contract?
Rocket Lawyer includes document review in its £34.99-a-month membership and charges £120 for a one-off review; fixed-fee services run from about £100 to £1,500 depending on the document; and the courts' 2026 guideline rates for solicitors outside London are £201 to £295 an hour. Send a three-clause brief from prompt 4 and ask for a fixed fee for those clauses only.