Can a homeowner cancel a building contract within 14 days?
If you agree a building contract with a homeowner in their home, they usually have 14 days to cancel without giving a reason. You must tell them about that right before they are bound. If you do not, the period can be extended by up to 12 months.
When the 14 days apply
The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 cover contracts between a trader (you) and a consumer, meaning an individual acting mainly outside their own trade or business, such as a homeowner.
The right to cancel applies to off-premises contracts, such as one made with you and the customer both present away from your premises, for example in their kitchen, or one made at your office or by phone straight after you spoke to them at home.
For a service, the 14 days start the day after the contract is made. The customer needs no reason, and any clear statement works, such as an email or a phone call.
Outside the rules: new buildings, substantially new buildings made by converting old ones, and off-premises contracts of £42 or less. GOV.UK guidance says extensions and conservatories are not excluded.
What you must give the customer
Before the customer is bound, you must give them the Schedule 2 information, on paper or, if they agree, by email or another durable medium, along with a cancellation form. It includes:
- what the work is, who you are and how to contact you
- the total price including taxes, or how it is worked out
- when and how payment and the work will happen
- the conditions, time limit and procedure for cancelling, and that they must pay reasonable costs if they cancel after asking you to start early
Before the work starts you must also give a copy of the signed contract, or a confirmation of it. It is for you to prove you gave the information, so keep a signed and dated copy.
If you never give the cancellation information, the period ends 12 months after the day it would normally have ended. Failing to give it is also a criminal offence.
Starting work inside the 14 days
You must not begin before the 14 days end unless the customer has made an express request to start. For an off-premises contract that request must be on paper or another durable medium, such as an email, so a spoken request is not enough.
GOV.UK guidance adds that you should tell them they will have to pay for work done up to the point they cancel. If you finish the work within the 14 days, after that request and their acknowledgement that they would lose the right to cancel once it is fully done, the right ends.
What the customer pays if they cancel
- Before any work: you refund everything paid within 14 days of being told.
- After work began at their express request: a proportionate amount for what you supplied up to the time they told you, based on the contract price, or market value if the price was excessive.
- Nothing for the work if you did not give the cancellation information or the information about paying this cost, or if you started without a proper request.
Urgent repairs
There is no right to cancel where the customer specifically asked you to visit for urgent repairs or maintenance. Extra services, and goods other than replacement parts, agreed on the same visit still carry the right. The Regulations do not define urgent, so if you are unsure, treat the job as cancellable and give the information.
Consumer Rights Act 2015: your duties on any home job
These apply to every service contract with a consumer, wherever it was agreed:
- You must use reasonable care and skill.
- What you say or write about yourself or the service becomes a term of the contract if the customer takes it into account, unless you qualified it at the time or you both expressly agree a change. That includes what is said on site.
- If no price is fixed, the customer pays a reasonable price and no more. If no time is fixed, you must finish within a reasonable time.
If the work falls short, the customer can require you to repeat it at your cost. If that is impossible, or you do not do it within a reasonable time, they can ask for a price reduction, up to the whole price. A term excluding your liability for care and skill does not bind the consumer.