Just a bit of a pointer needed:
I had some quotes in September for a loft conversion, chose a company to deal with the whole package and signed an order the following month. I paid a 10% deposit.
After some planning permission wrangles, I still haven't been given a start date for the work. No written contract has been signed, only the Order form. More importantly, my family circumstances have changed so that I no longer need the extra bedroom; I want to cancel the whole thing but I'm wary of being liable for further costs.
What's the correct way to approach the conversion company? I can swallow losing the deposit, but I don't want to be legally liable to pay them any more.
The construction company is a member of the Guild Of Master Craftsmen and the FMB; they have been in business for 40 years and seem very reputable.
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>> with the whole package and signed an order the following month. I paid a 10%
>> deposit.
>>I still haven't been given a start date for the
>> work. No written contract has been signed,
Think you'll find, that the order form and the 10% deposit is a contract. Certainly a contract of sorts.
>> only the Order form. More importantly, my family
>> circumstances have changed so that I no longer need the extra bedroom; I want to
>> cancel the whole thing but I'm wary of being liable for further costs.
The only way you are liable for costs is those the company has incurred to date, like planning and stuff. If they want to argue for more than the 10% they will have to itemise it. You are only liable for work completed to date, not projected work, costs or profits.
>> What's the correct way to approach the conversion company? I can swallow losing the deposit,
>> but I don't want to be legally liable to pay them any more.
Tell them "Sorry - changed my mind" and wave goodbye to the deposit. Thats what the deposit is there for.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 22 Feb 16 at 10:31
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>>You are only liable for work completed to date, not projected work, costs or profits.
Really?
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>> >>You are only liable for work completed to date, not projected work, costs or profits.
>>
>>
>> Really?
>>
If you have paid a deposit? Yes.
Any court will throw out consequential costs
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>Any court will throw out consequential costs
Are you sure?
If I went and bought a ton of materials, signed up some employees, and turned down 5 other jobs, which all took me over the deposit level then would the courts just let the customer walk?
Surely there must be more potential liability than just costs to date when walking away from a contract?
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>> >Any court will throw out consequential costs
>>
>> Are you sure?
>>
>> If I went and bought a ton of materials, signed up some employees, and turned
>> down 5 other jobs, which all took me over the deposit level then would the
>> courts just let the customer walk?
>>
>> Surely there must be more potential liability than just costs to date when walking away
>> from a contract?
None of which is applicable in the building world. Materials are not bought on spec or deposit. With no start date, no other jobs have been turned down, no casual staff hired.
Payments would have been staged had the work gone ahead.
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>> If you have paid a deposit? Yes.
>>
>> Any court will throw out consequential costs
Absolutely not so. Not always, but not something you can rely on. It was a contract whereby two parties agreed that something would happen and the other one would pay for it. The only way out of a contract is by mutual agreement.
I agree the courts would be unlikely to order specific performance (i.e. that OP would have to get his extension built) but they certainly could award damages.
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>> Absolutely not so. Not always, but not something you can rely on. It was a
>> contract whereby two parties agreed that something would happen and the other one would pay
>> for it. The only way out of a contract is by mutual agreement.
>>
>> I agree the courts would be unlikely to order specific performance (i.e. that OP would
>> have to get his extension built) but they certainly could award damages.
They certainly wouldn't. The builder would have to prove physical losses, not hypothetical losses. Profit on a non carried out job is hypothetical. The deposit is the fine for non contract take-up.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 23 Feb 16 at 12:49
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>>The deposit is the fine for non contract take-up.
No, actually. If both sides agree not to carry out the contract then you would be within your rights to demand the deposit back and to use the courts to enforce this.
A builder is not entitled to 'fine' somebody.
Woe betide somebody who thinks that he can pull out of a house purchase with just the loss of the deposit. That's only the start...
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The order form may well be a contract. Have you read it, including the small print?
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There isn't a lot about cancellation in the small print. Zero's advice was spot on, the builders were fine with the cancellation and aren't going to conjure up any further charges over and above the sum they've already got. Painful, but not as painful as being obliged to fork out a five-figure sum for a bedroom I don't need.
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Go ahead with the conversion and use it as a weed factory for a couple of years. Money back in no time, value of house enhanced. Win-win.
Last edited by: Alanović on Tue 23 Feb 16 at 10:48
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now there is thinking outside the packet.
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After cultivating and harvesting my CA friends weed harvest ( actually only 6 plants) and enjoying the finished product, I could take on an advisory role!
No pun intended
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My mate tried it on an isolated part of a common near Hornchurch. Rabbits ate it.
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Them rabbits in Hornchurch were always crazy man.
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Cancelling a loft conversion contract - Zero
