Legal

Terms and Conditions

Last updated: 2 June 2026

These Terms and Conditions apply to Starter.pt services, including web programming, security consultancy, managed VPS, maintenance and monthly support. They are intended for business-to-business work. Any signed proposal, statement of work, order form or written agreement takes precedence where it expressly conflicts with these terms.

1. Definitions

Starter.pt means the service provider operating under the Starter.pt brand.
Client means the person or organisation requesting, approving or paying for services.
Services means the work agreed in writing, including development, consultancy, infrastructure, support or related tasks.
Deliverables means code, documentation, reports, configurations, fixes, deployments or other outputs produced for the Client.

2. Engagement and scope

Services are provided only after scope, commercial terms and access requirements have been agreed in writing. Scope may be agreed by proposal, email, support queue, statement of work or other written confirmation. Work outside the agreed scope may require a separate estimate, change request or hourly billing.

3. Client responsibilities

The Client is responsible for:

providing accurate information, timely feedback and necessary access;
confirming requirements, priorities and acceptance criteria;
maintaining lawful rights to content, systems, data, software and third-party services supplied to Starter.pt;
keeping independent backups unless backup management is explicitly included in the agreed services;
reviewing deliverables and reporting issues within a reasonable time;
ensuring that production changes are approved by an authorised person.

4. Fees, invoicing and payment

Fees are charged as agreed in writing. Work may be fixed-price, hourly, monthly retainer or milestone-based. Unless otherwise agreed, invoices are payable on receipt. Late payment may result in paused work, suspended support, delayed delivery or service suspension after reasonable notice.

Third-party costs, licences, hosting, domains, SaaS tools, payment processing charges and other external expenses are the Client's responsibility unless expressly included in the agreed price.

5. Retainers and monthly support

Monthly support is provided within the agreed capacity, response expectations and communication channels. Unused time does not roll over unless agreed in writing. A retainer may cover fixes, updates, reviews, small improvements, deployment help and technical advice, but it does not guarantee unlimited availability or emergency response unless this is expressly agreed.

6. Managed VPS and infrastructure

Managed VPS or infrastructure services may include provisioning, configuration, monitoring, updates, backups, deployment support and incident handling as agreed. Infrastructure work reduces operational risk but does not eliminate outages, third-party failures, security incidents or data-loss risk. Backup scope, retention, restore testing and recovery objectives must be agreed separately where they are material to the Client.

7. Security consultancy

Security reviews, audits and hardening work are point-in-time assessments based on the information, access and scope provided. Findings are intended to support risk reduction and prioritisation. They do not guarantee that a system is free from vulnerabilities or future compromise.

8. Changes, delays and dependencies

Delivery estimates depend on agreed scope, access, feedback, third-party availability and Client decisions. Starter.pt is not responsible for delays caused by missing information, late approvals, unavailable systems, third-party incidents or changes requested by the Client.

9. Acceptance and defects

Deliverables should be reviewed by the Client within a reasonable time after delivery. Issues caused by Starter.pt within the agreed scope will be addressed in a reasonable manner. New requirements, changed assumptions, third-party issues, pre-existing defects or problems caused by later changes may be treated as new work.

10. Intellectual property

Unless otherwise agreed, the Client receives ownership of custom deliverables created specifically for the Client after full payment. Starter.pt retains rights to pre-existing tools, know-how, reusable code, generic methods, templates, internal processes and non-client-specific components. Third-party software and open-source components remain subject to their own licences.

11. Confidentiality

Each party must keep confidential information received from the other party confidential and use it only for the agreed purpose. Confidentiality does not apply to information that is public, independently developed, already known, or required to be disclosed by law.

12. Data protection

Each party must comply with applicable data protection laws. Where Starter.pt processes personal data on behalf of the Client, the Client remains responsible for ensuring that processing instructions are lawful and that any required data processing agreement is in place. More detail is available in the Privacy Policy.

13. Acceptable use

The Client must not use services, infrastructure or deliverables for:

illegal activity, malware, phishing, spam, fraud or unauthorised access;
content or activity that infringes third-party rights;
abuse of networks, systems, resources or reputation;
activity that creates material security, legal or operational risk for Starter.pt or its suppliers.

Starter.pt may suspend or refuse work where there is a reasonable concern about unlawful activity, non-payment, security risk or breach of these terms.

14. Termination

Either party may end an ongoing engagement by written notice, subject to any agreed minimum term, notice period or unpaid amounts. Work completed, committed third-party costs and approved time remain payable. On termination, reasonable handover assistance may be provided as paid work unless otherwise agreed.

15. Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Starter.pt is not liable for indirect loss, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, business interruption, third-party platform failures or loss caused by Client instructions, missing backups, unauthorised changes or external incidents. Starter.pt's liability is limited to the fees paid for the affected services during the three months before the event giving rise to the claim, unless a different limit is agreed in writing or mandatory law requires otherwise.

16. Force majeure

Starter.pt is not responsible for failure or delay caused by events outside reasonable control, including power failure, network outage, hosting failure, supplier incident, labour disruption, natural event, cyberattack, legal order or other exceptional circumstance.

17. Updates to these terms

These terms may be updated from time to time. The version published on this page applies to website use and new engagements unless a written agreement states otherwise. Material changes to active engagements will be handled in writing where required.

18. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by Portuguese law. Disputes should first be addressed in good faith between the parties. If no resolution is reached, the competent Portuguese courts apply unless mandatory law provides otherwise.

19. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to hello@starter.pt.