Freelance contract red flags: 7 clauses to fix before you sign

1. IP that transfers on creation, not on payment

'All work product is assigned to the Client upon creation' means a client who never pays still owns your work. Ownership should follow payment.

While you're there, reserve portfolio rights. Being able to show the work is how you win the next client, and a blanket non-disclosure quietly takes it away.

In the rulebook: IP assignment timing · Portfolio rights

2. Revisions “until satisfied”

Unlimited revisions on a fixed fee turn the fee into a ceiling on your hourly rate that keeps dropping. The same goes for scope written as “additional services as requested by the Client”.

In the rulebook: Unlimited revisions · Open-ended scope

3. Termination for convenience with no kill fee

If only the client can end the contract — on days' notice — you can lose the rest of the engagement, and the income you turned other work down to keep. Mutual termination, or payment for work done plus a kill fee, is the norm to ask for.

In the rulebook: Termination for convenience

4. Slow payment

Net 15–30 is standard for freelancers; net 45 is the outer limit; net 60–90 makes you the client's bank. Ask for a deposit (commonly 30–50% on a fixed-fee project) and milestone payments, and a late fee — commonly 1–1.5% a month.

In the rulebook: Payment terms · Deposit / upfront payment

5. Exclusivity

“The Contractor will not take on any other client in the sector” stops you earning elsewhere while you're engaged. Exclusivity is uncommon for contractors and, when agreed, is normally paid for and time-limited. Post-engagement non-competes are widely restricted or void for contractors in some places — ask a local lawyer rather than assuming.

In the rulebook: Exclusivity · Non-compete

6. Uncapped indemnity

“Indemnify the Client against any and all claims” with no cap makes one dispute potentially larger than the whole project fee. Ask for the indemnity to be limited to third-party claims caused by your breach and capped at the fees you were paid.

In the rulebook: Broad indemnity · Unlimited liability

7. What isn't there

The most costly gaps are the clauses that simply aren't in the document: a kill fee, a late-payment fee, a revision limit, a payment schedule, portfolio rights. Read for what's missing as carefully as for what's there — Clarity's check lists the standard protections a document doesn't mention.