What goes in a studio hire agreement

If you rent out a photography studio, a dance space, a podcast room or a workshop by the hour, you will have had the conversation where a hirer says "oh, I assumed that was included". The backdrop paper. The extra hour while they packed up. The second person who turned out to be a crew of five.

A hire agreement is the written version of the conversation you would rather have before they arrive. It does not need to be long. It needs to answer the questions that come up, in an order that makes sense when you are both standing in the studio with a pen.

Here are the eight sections a one-page studio hire agreement tends to carry, and what each one is for.

1. Who the studio is, and who you are

Studio name and address; the owner or manager's name, business name if there is one, email and phone. Obvious, and still the thing most often left blank on a form filled in a hurry. Add what the studio includes — "natural light, props, backdrops, WiFi" — so there is a shared list of what "the studio" means.

2. Who is hiring it

The hirer's full name or company, email, phone, address, and the purpose of the hire. "Product photoshoot" and "music video with a smoke machine" are both photoshoots to a booking form; they are not the same hire. Asking the purpose up front is how you find out about the smoke machine.

3. When

Date, start time, end time, total hours, number of people, and anything extra they need. Write the number of people down. It is the single most useful line on the page when a crew of five arrives for a booking made by one.

4. The money

Hourly or daily rate, total fee, deposit if you take one, total due. Keep it to four lines a hirer can check against their own notes. If you charge for overrunning, that belongs in the terms below, not buried in the rate.

5. How and when it is paid

Due date, method — bank transfer, card, other — and any notes. If the deposit is refundable, say when and on what condition it comes back. "Refunded within five working days of the hire ending, provided the studio is left as found" is a sentence both sides can hold each other to.

6. The terms, kept short

A studio hire does not need thirty clauses. The ones that earn their place, in plain words:

• The hirer uses the studio only for the purpose stated above.
• The hirer is responsible for damage to the studio, its equipment and property during the hire.
• The studio is left in the condition it was found; cleaning up is the hirer's job.
• Noise is kept to a reasonable level, and local rules are followed.
• Studio rules provided on the day are followed.
• Cancellations are made in writing; deposits are non-refundable unless agreed otherwise.
• The owner may cancel the booking in circumstances beyond their control.
• Which country's law applies — for a UK studio, England and Wales, or Scotland, as applicable.

Eight short lines cover most of what goes wrong. If your studio has a particular risk — a cyclorama wall that scuffs, lighting that must not be moved — add one line for it rather than a page.

7. Signatures

Owner or manager, and hirer: name, signature, date. On paper, by hand; on a tablet, in any PDF app with a signature tool. A printed agreement signed on the day and photographed is a perfectly good record.

8. A line about the limits

An agreement like this is a clear record of what two people agreed. It is not legal advice and it does not make a studio owner's obligations go away; if a hire is large, unusual or valuable, a solicitor's half hour is money well spent. The best agreements say this plainly, because the people who sign them deserve to know what the page does and does not do.

Why one page

Hirers read one page. They skim three and sign without reading six. A single sheet that covers the eight sections above gets read on the day, which is the only time it matters.

The Studio Rental Agreement in the shop is exactly these eight sections on one page — a print-ready PDF you fill in by hand or annotate in a PDF app, written for England, Wales and Scotland. Adapt the terms to your studio before you use it; the second line in section 6 is the one most studios change first.