El blog de Maria

Article 85.  Abusive clauses because of linking the contract to the will of the business owner.

 Those Clauses that link any aspect of the contract to the business owner will be abusive (therefore illegal: null and void[1]) and, in any case, the following:

1. Those clauses which give to the business owner who contracts with the consumer an excessively long or undetermined period  to accept or reject a contract offer or to satisfy the due good.

2.  Those clauses providing for an automatic extension of a fixed-term contract if the consumer and user does not oppose setting a deadline, not allowing effectively to consumers and users to express their desire not to extend it.

3. Those clauses which provide the business owner with the powers of interpretation or unilateral modification of the contract, except in the latter case, when there are valid reasons specified in the contract.

 For contracts relating to financial services the provider can reserve to himself the right to change without notice the interest rate/other expenses related to financial services paid by the consumer, when they are linked to index, provided that they are legal and it is described how rates change, or other cases of valid reason, provided that the employer is obliged to report it as soon as possible to the consumer and they can immediately cancel the contract without penalty.

Service providers may also unilaterally change the terms of the financial services of indefinite duration due to valid reasons expressed in the contract, provided that the business owner is obliged to inform the consumer with a reasonable advance and the consumer has the power to terminate the contract or, if necessary, withdraw unilaterally, without notice in the event of any valid reason, provided that the business owner report it immediately to the other contractors.

4. The clauses that allow the business owner to anticipate terminate a fixed-term contract, if the consumer and user do not get the same right, or those clauses which permit the business owner to terminate the contracts of indefinite duration in a disproportionately short term or without reasonable prior notice.

All the abovementioned do not affect to those clauses which allow the contract cancellation due to non-compliance or to important reasons, unrelated to the will of the parties, which alter the circumstances that led to the conclusion of the contract.

5. Those clauses which link the consumer to the contract in an unconditional way even if the employer had not fulfilled its obligations.

6. Those clauses involving the imposition of a disproportionately high penalty clause if the consumer does not meet its obligations.

7. Those clauses involving the subject of the contract obligations to a condition whose realization depends only on the willingness of the business owner, when the consumer is fixed to a firm commitment.

8. Those clauses which indicate just mere indicative delivery dates just subject to the will of the business owner.

9. Those clauses which exclude or limit the obligations of the business owner to respect the agreements and commitments made by his agents or representatives, or make commitments to the satisfaction of certain formalities.

10. Those clauses which set the pricing for the moment of delivery of the goods or services or those clauses which grant the employer the power to increase the final price agreed on, without objective reasons and without giving the consumer the right to terminate the contract if the price is much higher than the originally stipulated.

 Castellar´Castle. Inside street. By Luis Lopez-Cortijo