Unfair terms in a broadband contract: your rights

Part 2 covers contracts between a trader and a consumer: an individual acting wholly or mainly outside their trade or business. A household broadband contract is covered; a business contract is not. If you work for yourself, our guide to broadband costs for the self-employed and company directors covers whose name the contract should be in. Part 2 applies to contracts made on or after 1 October 2015 anywhere in the UK. Earlier contracts fall under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

The CMA's guidance on the law, known as CMA37, was last updated on 22 July 2026. It is written for businesses, not as a guide to individual rights, but it shows how the regulator reads each kind of term, so we draw on it throughout.

Section 62 says a term is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the consumer's detriment. It is judged against what the contract is for, all the circumstances when it was agreed, and all the other terms, so a one-sided clause can be balanced, or made worse, by what sits around it.

If a term is unfair:

• It isn't binding on you, though you can still rely on it if it happens to suit you.
• The rest of the contract stands, so far as practicable.
• It can't be rewritten to make it fair, the CMA says, and you can resist an unfair demand; money paid under it should be repaid.
• A court must consider fairness itself in a case about a consumer contract term, even if nobody raises it, if it has enough material to do so.

Section 68 requires written terms to be in plain and intelligible language and legible. If a term could mean different things, the meaning most favourable to you wins (section 69). The CMA notes that a term failing only on transparency isn't automatically non-binding, but the consumer-friendly reading applies wherever it is ambiguous.

Section 64 takes two kinds of term out of the fairness test: the main subject matter of the contract, and whether the price is appropriate for what you get. So you can't argue a deal is unfair just because it was expensive. That exemption only applies if the term is transparent and prominent to an average consumer, whom the Act describes as reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect. It never covers a grey-list term (below), and the CMA says a provider labelling a term as “core” doesn't make it so. The price you signed up to is generally off-limits; a term that lets it change later is not. If the price itself is the problem, the practical answer is to switch once your contract lets you, starting with our cheap broadband deals.

Schedule 2 of the Act is an indicative, non-exhaustive “grey list” of terms that may be unfair. A term on it isn't automatically unfair, and one that isn't on it can still fail the fairness test. These entries are the most relevant to broadband (our summary of the legal wording):

Two carve-outs narrow the list. A right to change the conditions of a contract with no fixed end date falls outside paragraphs 11, 12 and 14 if the provider must give reasonable notice and you're free to end the contract (paragraph 23). A price-indexation clause falls outside paragraphs 14 and 15 if the method of variation is explicitly described (paragraph 25). Neither makes a term fair: both can still be tested under the general fairness test.

A variation clause lets the provider change the contract after you've signed. The CMA says one is more likely to be unfair if it could force you to accept unexpected costs, new requirements or reduced benefits, particularly in a minimum-term contract where you'd expect the terms to stay put; if it is broad or vague (saying changes will be “reasonable” is unlikely, on its own, to be enough); or if you have no realistic way to escape by cancelling. It is more likely to be fair if it is narrow, clear about the valid reasons for a change, gives notice before the change takes effect and offers a genuine right to cancel without being worse off. A right to cancel that carries a financial penalty is unlikely to rescue it.

As its own illustration of wording unlikely to be fair, the CMA gives: “The company may at any time vary or add to these conditions as it deems necessary.” That is the CMA's example, not any provider's clause.

The CMA says a price-variation term is more likely to be unfair if it leaves the provider free to decide when or by how much to raise prices, so you can't work out what you'll pay; allows rises unrelated to its actual costs; or changes the price when you'd expect it to stay fixed. It is more likely to be fair if the level and timing are specified, there is an objective justification, any index is clear and verifiable, prices also fall if costs fall, and you're genuinely free to leave.

Sector rules have moved the same way: from 17 January 2025 Ofcom stopped providers putting inflation-linked or percentage price-rise terms in new contracts; rises must be set out in pounds and pence, up front (as reported by ISPreview). Before that, Citizens Advice research published in October 2023 found terms such as “CPI + 3.9%” common but poorly understood: one in three people on contracts linked to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI, a measure of inflation) said they had never heard of it. On an older inflation-linked contract, remember paragraph 25: an explicitly described index takes the clause outside two grey-list entries, but the general fairness test still applies.

Sky's condition 5(b) reads: “Subject to Condition 10(c), we may increase your Sky Broadband Payment at any time for any reason stated in Condition 15(a) or 15(b) by giving you at least one calendar month’s notice in writing.” Condition 10(c) sets out when you can leave without early termination charges; our guide to Sky and NOW price rises shows how notice and that exit window worked for Sky's 2026 rise. Our guides to mid-contract price rises, TalkTalk's yearly rises and altnet price promises explain how rises work elsewhere.

Grey-list paragraph 5 targets disproportionately high sums for ending a contract. The CMA says a termination fee is more likely to be unfair if it demands all the remaining payments, or close to them, without reflecting what the provider saves, its ability to reduce its loss and the benefit of being paid early. It is more likely to be fair if it is a stated sum, in plain language, that is a genuine pre-estimate of the provider's loss; a sliding scale can work if it is never disproportionate.

Sky's condition 10(b), for example, caps its charge at what you would have paid for the rest of the minimum term “less any costs we save” and less the benefit to Sky of being paid early. Our guide to leaving broadband without an exit fee compares providers' methods.

Ofcom's General Condition C1.8 also bars exit procedures that put people off cancelling (as quoted by ISPreview), and in July 2026 Ofcom fined Virgin Media £28 million over mishandled calls that created barriers to cancelling or switching; that case concerned call handling, not contract wording.

On renewal, the CMA says terms are more likely to be unfair if they need unreasonably early notice to stop a renewal, rely on inertia without effective reminders, or require an excessively long notice period to leave a rolling contract; fairer ones use reminders, express consent and renewal onto a rolling contract you can end with reasonable notice. See our guide to end-of-contract notifications.

• The provider deciding. Terms letting a trader decide whether it is in breach, or what the terms mean, are more likely to be unfair, the CMA says.
• Compulsory arbitration is likely to be unfair, and for claims of £5,000 or less it is automatically unfair under section 91 of the Arbitration Act 1996.
• Mandatory ADR is more likely to be unfair if it removes or limits your right to go to court; fair terms leave you a free choice once a dispute arises.
• Local courts. Terms mustn't stop you suing in your own part of the UK. Sky's condition 14, for instance, applies Scots or Northern Ireland law to customers there and lets them choose their own courts or the English courts.

1. Find the exact wording that applied when you signed, alongside your contract summary, and note the start date: before 1 October 2015 means the 1999 Regulations apply.
2. Check whether an Ofcom rule already covers it, such as the right to leave after a contract change, using the guides linked above.
3. Complain in writing. In its advice on gym contracts (written for England), Citizens Advice suggests raising a term with the business and, if it won't agree, saying or writing that the term is an “unfair term” under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (or the 1999 Regulations) and should be removed. Quote the term and its number, and say what you want: that the provider won't rely on it, or that it refunds a charge.
4. Keep records of every contact: letters, emails, webchat screenshots and phone records.
5. Escalate to ADR, then get advice, and treat court as the last step (below).

Example wording you could adapt (an illustration, not legal advice): “Under my contract dated [date], you have [what the provider has done or is asking for], relying on condition [number]. I believe this is an unfair term under Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, so it is not binding on me. Please confirm you will not rely on it [and refund the charge]. If we can't resolve this, I will take my complaint to your alternative dispute resolution scheme.”

The CMA's July 2026 guidance says it can act through direct enforcement, with penalties for traders using unlawful terms of up to 10% of global turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater. The CMA, Trading Standards and sector regulators such as Ofcom can also go to court, and outcomes can include injunctions covering existing and future contracts, or undertakings from the trader. An enforcer that decides not to seek a court order over a complaint must give reasons. Reporting a term won't settle your own case.

The same tests make a useful checklist when you choose a new deal. Read the change-of-terms clause (reasons, notice, exit right), the price-rise clause (stated in pounds and pence, and when), how the exit charge is worked out, what happens when the minimum term ends, and which ADR scheme the provider uses.

Then compare. Our broadband providers hub lists the providers we cover, and the broadband deals comparison shows live deals at your postcode through a partner's comparison tool. Any contract you take is between you and the provider, and we can't tell you whether a term is fair, so put questions about a clause to the provider, ideally in writing, before you order.