Terms and Conditions (Website Design, Hosting, and Support Services)
Laast updated: 6 July 2026 and effective from that date.
1. Definitions
“Provider” means David Rutlidge, sole trader, trading as TechSpec.
“Client” means any individual or business purchasing services.
“Services” include website design, development, hosting, domain management, maintenance, support, and related digital services.
2. Scope of Services
Services will be provided as described in written proposals, quotations, emails, or other agreed specifications.
Any work outside the agreed scope may incur additional charges at the Provider’s standard rates or as otherwise agreed in writing.
3. Fees and Payment
Fees will be agreed in advance. Hosting, maintenance, support, and similar ongoing services may be billed on a recurring basis.
Invoices must be paid within 7 days unless otherwise agreed in writing.
If payment is overdue:
- A 14-day grace period applies.
- After that period, the Provider may suspend some or all Services, including hosting, support, maintenance, email, and domain management.
- If non-payment continues, the Provider may terminate Services and remove or delete data after a reasonable period.
4. Minimum Term and Termination
Hosting and ongoing services are supplied for a minimum term of 12 months unless otherwise agreed in writing.
After the minimum term, those services continue on a rolling basis unless terminated by either party on not less than 3 months’ written notice.
The Provider may terminate or suspend Services immediately where there is:
- A material breach of these terms,
- Non-payment,
- Illegal, abusive, or prohibited use of the Services,
- A security or operational risk affecting the Provider, other clients, or third parties.
On termination:
- All outstanding fees become immediately due.
- The Client remains responsible for arranging transfer of any website, domain, email, or related services.
- The Provider may delete hosted data after 14 days.
5. Client Responsibilities
- Provide accurate content, materials, information, credentials, and instructions in a timely manner.
- Ensure they have the legal right to use all supplied content, including text, images, branding, trademarks, code, and data.
- Maintain their own backups of website content and data unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing.
- Review and approve work, content, and deliverables within a reasonable time.
- Comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to their website, business, and use of the Services.
6. Hosting and Domains
Hosting is provided on a best-effort basis. The Provider does not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or always-available service.
The Provider may:
- Take reasonable steps to maintain server security, availability, and performance,
- Maintain server-level backups for disaster recovery purposes only, without guaranteeing availability, completeness, or suitability for restoration in every case,
- Manage domains, DNS, SSL, and related technical services on the Client’s behalf where agreed.
The Client acknowledges that:
- Domain registration and renewal remain subject to third-party registrar rules and availability,
- Failure to pay may result in suspension, expiry, transfer delay, or loss of domain-related services,
- Backups kept by the Provider do not remove the Client’s own responsibility to keep copies of important content and data.
7. Support and Maintenance
Support and maintenance are provided on a best-effort basis unless otherwise agreed in writing.
No guaranteed response times, fix times, or resolution times apply except to the limited extent expressly set out in any written SLA.
8. Sensitive Data
The Client may only use the Services to process sensitive personal data or other regulated data where the Provider has agreed in writing in advance and any required verification or due diligence has been completed.
The Client remains responsible for ensuring that any data collected, processed, stored, or transmitted through their website or systems is lawful, secure, and appropriately managed under applicable data protection law.
9. Third-Party Services
The Provider is not responsible for failures, downtime, incompatibility, pricing changes, policy changes, or security issues arising from third-party services, software, infrastructure, or suppliers, including but not limited to plugins, themes, APIs, payment gateways, registrars, DNS providers, external email platforms, or upstream hosting providers.
10. Third-Party Themes, Plugins, and Software Licences
As part of the design, development, hosting, or support of a website, the Provider may use third-party themes, plugins, extensions, software components, or other licensed products supplied by external vendors.
Where the Provider supplies such products under the Provider’s own developer, agency, multi-site, or similar licence, the Client may use those products on their website without separate charge for so long as the website remains actively hosted by the Provider and all relevant service fees are fully paid.
While the website remains hosted by the Provider, the Provider may install, configure, maintain, and apply available updates to such third-party products as part of the hosting or support service, where the relevant licence remains valid and the vendor continues to support the product.
The Client acknowledges that all such third-party products remain subject to the terms, availability, support policies, compatibility limits, and licensing conditions of the relevant vendor.
If the Client moves the website to another hosting provider or otherwise ceases to host the website with the Provider, the Client will cease to receive updates, support, renewals, or continued licensed use of any third-party products supplied under the Provider’s own licences, unless the Provider confirms otherwise in writing.
Following any such transfer or cessation of hosting, the Client becomes solely responsible for obtaining, maintaining, renewing, and paying for any third-party licences required for lawful continued use, updates, support, security patches, or feature access relating to those products.
The Provider may remove licence keys, disable licensed update access, or decline to continue maintaining third-party products after the website leaves the Provider’s hosting or management services, where those products were supplied under the Provider’s own licensing arrangements.
Where a third-party product is licensed directly to the Client or purchased specifically in the Client’s own name, that licence remains the Client’s responsibility at all times.
11. Intellectual Property
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, and subject to full payment of all sums due, the Client is granted a non-exclusive licence to use the completed website and related deliverables for their own business or personal use.
The Provider retains ownership of all pre-existing materials, reusable code, frameworks, systems, methods, know-how, design assets, scripts, and general development tools used to create or support the Services.
The Provider may display completed work in a portfolio, case study, or showcase unless otherwise agreed in writing.
12. Warranties and “As-Is” Provision
All Services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, except to the extent that a different standard is required by law.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, no warranty is given that the Services will be uninterrupted, error-free, compatible with every third-party product, fit for any particular purpose, or free from all security vulnerabilities.
Nothing in these terms limits any non-excludable consumer rights or the obligation to exercise reasonable care and skill where required by law.[web:62]
13. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Provider shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, including loss of profit, loss of business, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of opportunity, or loss of data.
The Provider shall not be liable for loss arising from downtime, delay, cyber incidents, third-party failures, registrar actions, data corruption, software incompatibility, or events outside the Provider’s reasonable control.
The Provider’s total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or in connection with the Services shall be limited to the total fees paid by the Client to the Provider in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
14. Data Protection
Both parties agree to comply with applicable data protection legislation, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.[web:34]
Where the Provider processes personal data on behalf of the Client, the Client remains responsible for ensuring that the relevant processing is lawful and that appropriate notices, policies, and instructions are in place.
15. Changes to Terms
The Provider may amend these terms from time to time. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise notified to the Client.
16. Governing Law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms or the Services shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
17. Acceptable Use Policy
This Acceptable Use Policy applies to all Services provided by the Provider, including website hosting, email hosting, domain services, website support, maintenance, and related systems or infrastructure.
The Client is responsible for all use of the Services under their account, including websites, applications, scripts, email accounts, domains, files, databases, and third-party integrations used with the Services.
17.1 Lawful Use
The Client must use the Services only for lawful purposes and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
The Client must not use the Services to publish, store, transmit, distribute, or link to any material or activity that is unlawful, fraudulent, abusive, defamatory, misleading, harmful, or infringes the rights of any third party.
17.2 Prohibited Activities
The following activities are prohibited:
- Any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent, or deceptive activity.
- Copyright infringement or other misuse of intellectual property.
- Phishing, impersonation, spoofing, scam pages, fake login pages, or credential harvesting.
- Malware, ransomware, spyware, trojans, malicious scripts, botnets, or harmful code.
- Unauthorised access to, interference with, or attempted exploitation of any system, account, network, or data.
- Brute-force attacks, vulnerability scanning, port scanning, denial-of-service activity, or similar hostile activity unless expressly authorised in writing.
- Spam, abusive bulk email, or operation of insecure forms or scripts that may be used for spam or abuse.
- Open relays, open proxies, anonymous forwarding services, or other services likely to facilitate abuse.
- Any use that degrades, disrupts, or endangers the performance, availability, or security of the Provider’s systems or any third party’s systems.
17.3 Resource Usage
The Services are provided subject to reasonable and fair use. The Client must not use excessive CPU, memory, storage, bandwidth, disk input/output, database, email, or network resources in a way that adversely affects system stability, security, or other users.
Shared hosting must not be used primarily for bulk storage, archiving, backup-only use, or high-resource processing unless expressly agreed in writing.[web:1]
17.4 Email and Messaging
Email and messaging services must be used responsibly and lawfully. The Client must not use the Services to send spam, phishing emails, misleading campaigns, or abusive communications.
The Client is responsible for securing forms, plugins, scripts, email accounts, and connected devices used with the Services.
17.5 Security
The Client must take reasonable steps to secure their website, software, passwords, devices, and user accounts.
The Provider may take emergency action, including suspension, restriction, disabling access, removing content, or isolating a service, where reasonably necessary to protect infrastructure, other clients, or third parties from security threats, abuse, or operational risk.
17.6 Sensitive and Regulated Data
The Client may only use the Services to process sensitive personal data or regulated data where the Provider has agreed in writing in advance and any required due diligence has been completed.
The Client remains responsible for legal compliance, lawful processing, and application-level security in relation to any such data.
17.7 Domains and Third-Party Services
Where the Provider manages domains or integrates third-party services on the Client’s behalf, the Client must not use those services in a way that breaches registrar rules, supplier terms, or applicable law.
17.8 Monitoring and Enforcement
The Provider does not routinely monitor all client content, but reserves the right to investigate suspected breaches of this Acceptable Use Policy, abuse reports, security incidents, excessive resource usage, or activity that may affect service stability or lawful compliance.
If the Provider reasonably believes that the Client has breached this policy, the Provider may take any action reasonably considered necessary, including:
- Issuing a warning,
- Requesting corrective action,
- Removing or disabling access to content,
- Suspending or restricting services,
- Blocking email, domains, scripts, or network activity,
- Terminating some or all Services,
- Reporting the matter to relevant authorities, regulators, registrars, or network providers.
Where reasonably possible, notice will be given before action is taken. Immediate action may be taken without notice where necessary to prevent harm, protect infrastructure, reduce abuse, or comply with legal obligations.
18. Service Level Agreement (SLA)
This SLA applies only where the Provider supplies ongoing hosting, maintenance, or support services. It should be read together with the main Terms and Conditions.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, all such services are provided on a best-effort basis. This SLA sets out service targets only and does not create a guarantee of uninterrupted service, guaranteed resolution, or service credits.
18.1 Service Scope
This SLA applies to:
- Website hosting supplied directly by the Provider,
- Routine website support and maintenance included within the Client’s service,
- Reasonable assistance with domain and DNS issues where managed by the Provider.
This SLA does not apply to:
- Third-party hosting, registrars, APIs, plugins, themes, or software outside the Provider’s control,
- New development work, redesigns, content updates, or out-of-scope changes,
- Delays caused by the Client, third parties, force majeure, cyberattacks, or factors outside the Provider’s reasonable control.
18.2 Support Hours
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, standard support may be requested 24-hours a day. We will respond as quickly as possible to all requests.
Additional support services for Divi Theme and WordPress in general are available at additional cost. These services are manned 24-hours a day.
18.3 Response Targets
The Provider aims to respond to support requests within the following target times during standard support hours:
- Critical: within 4 working hours, for complete website outage, severe security incident, or critical fault making the main service unusable.
- High: within 1 working day, for major functionality issues significantly affecting normal use.
- Normal: within 2 working days, for standard support issues, minor faults, or configuration queries.
- Low: within 5 working days, for non-urgent requests, minor adjustments, advice, or general assistance.
These are response targets only and not fix or resolution guarantees.
18.4 Uptime Target
For hosting services supplied directly by the Provider, the Provider aims for 99.5% monthly availability.
This target excludes planned maintenance, emergency maintenance, upstream provider failures, DNS issues, registrar issues, denial-of-service attacks, third-party failures, and events outside the Provider’s reasonable control.
18.5 Maintenance and Emergency Action
The Provider may carry out planned maintenance, updates, reboots, patches, migrations, and security work as reasonably required to operate and protect the Services.
Where reasonably possible, notice of planned maintenance will be given in advance. Emergency maintenance may be carried out without notice where necessary to address security, abuse, instability, or urgent operational risk.
18.6 Client Responsibilities
To receive support under this SLA, the Client must:
- Provide accurate contact details and a clear description of the issue,
- Provide timely access, credentials, approvals, and information reasonably required to investigate or resolve the issue,
- Keep website software, plugins, themes, and connected services appropriately licensed and lawful unless the Provider has expressly agreed to manage them,
- Maintain their own backups of website content and application-level data.
18.7 Exclusions
The Provider is not responsible under this SLA for:
- Faults caused by the Client’s own changes or by third-party developers,
- Issues caused by unsupported, outdated, insecure, or unlicensed software,
- Third-party email delivery failures, registrar delays, DNS propagation delays, or platform outages,
- Loss of profit, business interruption, loss of data, or consequential loss, subject always to the liability section of these terms and any rights which cannot legally be excluded.
18.8 Remedies
No service credits apply unless expressly agreed in writing.
Where the Client is a consumer, nothing in this SLA removes or restricts any statutory rights that cannot lawfully be excluded, including any applicable right to services carried out with reasonable care and skill.
18.9 Changes to this SLA
The Provider may update this SLA from time to time. Any updated version will apply from the date of publication or notification.