Fox is correct on all counts, just because you land a contract does not mean the client has to stick with you forever, in fact 60% of contracts change hands every year, it is called capitalism.
From what you have said they have given you 30 days notice, that is all they are required by law to do. TUPE may come into play as Fox has stated, all clients have a choice on who to do business with, management companies are notorious for accepting low quotes, this increases their own profits, this is the way business works, its not personal!
You also did yourself no favours by taking them to court, although from what you have said, you did the right thing, dont worry about it too much, this is nothing new, and will happen again and again.
You failed to follow basic business procedure, you failed to ensure that the contracts that you issue to prospective clients are in fact legal and comprehensive, you lost the battle of the forms, then when they give you notice, you spend money on a useless telephone helpline, why?
If you had your contract drawn up along with your terms of business, at a cost of approx £1000 +VAT, the client would have been forced to issue you with 3 months notice, you then could have spent that time looking for a replacement contract or tried to cut a new deal with your client, the price of doing business is not cheap, you can search the net for all the advice you want, but if you cant or wont spend either the time or the money on obtaining advice from the professionals in certain aspects of your business, well, it is only a matter of time before it all goes Txxx up.
The only difference it would make in this case, is the length of notice that your client had to give you in writing, no contract will allow you to insist that they only employ your company.
However, if you had employed a specialist to write your T & C, and your contract, I think it highly unlikely, that they would have made you wait for payment for 5 months in the first place, then perhaps you would still hold the contract, I would guess that someone has B******** the person who awarded you the contract for the extra costs that they had to pay due to the court case, this money would not have been able to be passed onto the tenants, it would have had to come direct from the management company, management companies do not like to lose money ever!
Of course it could be that your standards were not quite high enough, or some other reason, but it makes no real difference, after all your only a cleaner to them, however, if they employed one of the bigger companies, who have their contracts drawn up by professionals, I dont think they would have withheld their money for 5 months, because the penalties for doing so would have been made quite clear in their contract.
Cleaning is a business, business has real costs, some people rely on obtaining R/A, M/S, Employment Contracts, all off the net or forums, then moan when they find out that they are not worth the paper that they are written on, if you do not act professional at all times, then clients will always, push and push until you go over the edge, would your client have tried to do the same to BT or any other service provider, I think not, one very simple reason, a decent contract, backed up by the law.
Regards,
Rob
