Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Enforcing third-party benefits under contracts: practitioner checklist for invoking the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, its limits, variation consent and defences

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This Checklist

This Checklist sets out the questions to address when you are looking to enforce a third party’s rights under a contract. The common law doctrine of privity of contract states that, as a general principle, an agreement cannot grant rights or impose duties created by its terms on anyone other than its parties, with the result that a person who is not a party ordinarily has no standing to enforce it. There are, however, situations in which a contract appears to bestow a benefit on a third party (or on several third parties), and those beneficiaries may wish to seek enforcement of that advantage. In such circumstances, attention should be given to the recognised exceptions to the privity rule-see Practice Note: Third party rights-the common law doctrine of privity of contract. One prominent exception is the ability to enforce third party rights by relying on the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 (C(RTP)A 1999). This Checklist identifies the questions to ask when considering whether to rely on C(RTP)A 1999 in order to secure enforcement of such rights. It should be read in conjunction with Practice Note: Third party rights-the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999...

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Web page updated on 20/05/2026

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