Breach of Contract

Originally written by Garry Crystal, updated by the editorial team on 26th May 2026

What is a breach of contract?

A breach of contract happens when one party fails to do what they agreed to do under the terms of a legally binding contract. This could mean not performing a service, delivering faulty goods, missing a deadline, or refusing to pay.

Contracts establish the obligations, rights, and remedies available to each party. When someone breaks those terms, the other party may be entitled to claim compensation or, in some cases, walk away from the agreement altogether.

Breach of contract disputes arise frequently between businesses, between consumers and traders, and between private individuals. The consequences depend on how serious the breach is and what the contract says about remedies.

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Common types of breach

Not all breaches are equal. The law recognises different categories, and the type of breach affects what you can do about it.

Minor breach: Sometimes called a partial breach. One party fails to meet a small part of the agreement, but the main purpose of the contract can still be fulfilled. The other party can usually claim compensation for the difference, but cannot treat the whole contract as cancelled.
Material breach: A more serious failure that goes to the heart of what was agreed. If a supplier delivers goods that are completely different from what was ordered, this would likely count as material. The innocent party may be able to end the contract and claim damages.
Breach of condition: Contract terms are often classified as conditions, warranties, or innominate terms. Breach of a condition, which is a fundamental term of the contract, gives the innocent party the right to terminate immediately and pursue a claim for losses.
Anticipatory breach: This occurs when one party makes clear, before the deadline, that they will not perform their side of the bargain. The innocent party does not have to wait for the actual breach to happen. They can treat the contract as ended and seek compensation straight away.

The line between these categories is not always obvious. Courts assess breaches by examining the contract wording, the consequences of the breach, and whether the innocent party has been deprived of substantially the whole benefit they were meant to receive.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Examples of breach

Breaches can take many forms. Some of the most common include:

Not paying for goods or services on time, or at all
Failing to deliver what was promised by the agreed date
Providing work or products that are defective or not fit for purpose
Refusing to carry out agreed obligations without a valid reason
Breaking confidentiality terms or other specific clauses

A single late payment may be a minor issue. Repeated non-payment, or a complete failure to deliver, is more likely to be treated as serious.

Whether something counts as a breach can also depend on any exclusion or limitation clauses in the contract. These may restrict what remedies are available, though the Consumer Rights Act 2015 limits how far businesses can go in excluding their liability to consumers.

What you can do about a breach

If someone breaches a contract with you, your options depend on the nature of the breach and what you want to achieve.

For minor breaches, you may be entitled to claim damages to cover your losses. Damages are meant to put you in the position you would have been in if the contract had been performed properly. You cannot usually claim more than your actual loss. Some contracts include liquidated damages clauses that specify a predetermined sum payable on breach, though courts may refuse to enforce these if they amount to a penalty.

For more serious breaches, you may be able to end the contract and refuse to carry out your own remaining obligations. You would still be able to claim for losses you have suffered. In limited circumstances, courts may order specific performance, requiring the breaching party to fulfil their contractual obligations rather than simply paying compensation.

Before taking legal action, it is usually worth trying to resolve the dispute directly. Many contracts include dispute resolution clauses that require negotiation or mediation before court proceedings. Even without such a clause, courts expect parties to have made reasonable efforts to settle.

If you cannot reach agreement, you may need to issue a claim through the courts. For lower value disputes, the small claims track in the County Court is a relatively straightforward option. You can find information about making a court claim on GOV.UK.

For consumer disputes, you may also be able to use an ombudsman or alternative dispute resolution service, depending on the type of contract. Citizens Advice can help you understand your options if you are unsure where to start.

Time limits apply to breach of contract claims. Under the Limitation Act 1980, you generally have six years from the date of the breach to bring a claim. If the contract was executed as a deed, this extends to 12 years.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Contract Red Flag Checker lets you describe a contract you are about to sign and get a plain English summary of the clauses that could hurt you. Takes about 2 minutes. Try it now →

183 questions

Ask Contracts and Agreements a Question

Sukraine 05/01/2021 at 1:14 pm

I sent a parcel with a courier services and paid insurance for it. I sent it on behalf of a friend. The parcel was never received the couriers said it was lost, but when I claimed for the amount I insured if for, they said I needed proof of value as otherwise they wouldn't compensate me. I never had proof of value just what my friend I was sending it for told me and as he bought it ages ago, he has no proof either. The couriers say that under their terms of conditions they don't have to compensate me because I can't prove the value of the item but I paid insurance for that value. In short I've paid to insure against their negligence and now they say their tandCs mean they don't have to pay. This surely can't be right.

Lazyla 29/07/2020 at 4:16 am

I ordered a custom made cnc in April 2020 on a 14 eta of delivery...3 months down the line after paying in full the bloke now says the quote he gave me...1707...he is now over budget for my machine and he would prefer me to have a refund...spoken to C A B and was asked to send a letter for breach of consumer act 2015...customer had 7 days to reply and 14 days for full refund....I have no refund and frightened of the next step as unsure what to do

Allie 29/06/2020 at 2:23 pm

I ordered a tv from Argos. They say it was delivered to me and they got a signature of the letter A. I have not received my TV, I live in a secure building that needs the driver to phone for access and neighbours who were home all day and sat in their lounges overlooking the entrance confirm that no delivery attempt was made. I contacted Argos who say they the driver said they delivered it and they have proof of delivery (The 'A' signature that anyone who can see mg name on the delivery could have done) and they wont refund or replace. They've washed their hands of it! I've been without a tv or my money now since 6th June. They said to contact my debit card provider but they're in the wrong here and as they insist theres proof of delivery even though it's not from me I dont think that's good enough. A company like Argos shouldn't be allowed to do this surely? Their delivery driver could have made a mistake or stolen it for all I know. I just want my tv. My aunts just died and I just want this resolved so I can grieve with my family.

stone 17/03/2020 at 7:24 pm

I employed a maid to clean and take care of my house to be paid at the end of the month;she worked for two weeks and abandoned the job and requested that I pay her for the two weeks worked for. Am I under obligation to pay her

Teebag 13/11/2019 at 12:37 pm

I had an air source heat pump installed and the supplier, Smart Performance, made a written agreement to do two things.
Firstly to do an annual health check / system test as i had paid extra for a special fluid in the heating.
Secondly to carry out annual maintenance on the air pump.
The continued warranty is dependent on both these things. I have repeatedly called, mailed and messaged but they either ignore the messages or just say we will come later. The annual maintenance and checks are now 4 months over due.
Other than taking them to court how can i make them do what they are supposed to do, or get the money from them to pay for another maintenance provider?

Auxillia 23/10/2019 at 8:36 am

Got a loan from the bank and the agreement was to be deducted in five years, the last month being October 2019. The bank has added twenty eight months without my knowledge. What should I do?

Chelsea 17/07/2019 at 12:00 am

Hi
I bought a ground floor flat last year and there is a management company that looks after the buildings and garages we pay an annual fee on top of council tax...the pathway to my back gate has large pots holes and there is a tree extremely close to the building and garages which the management company has known about for last 6 months..they keep saying no money in the pot to get repaired as there are a lot of people who don't pay...iv had a tree surgeon look at the tree and has said no insurance company will pay out for any damages as it's way to close to the buildings and should have been taken down years ago....I'm paying my money...is there any legal way i can go...

Mick1980 30/03/2019 at 12:59 pm

** Late ** in being paid. The QS was either sacked or quit and did not process our December Invoice for £25k.

Shelle1582 04/01/2019 at 3:57 pm

Hi I am a mobile catering business owner. A local company offered me a parking place to keep my vehicle if I rented an office from them which I did for a couple of years under a verbal agreement until they decided they were knocking down the offices. I moved out of the office in August 2017 but was allowed to keep the parking space. We verbally agreed that I could continue parking there and they would arrange different payments for the water and electric I used to keep the vehicle there and plugged in once they had arranged permanent parking after the building work/demolishing was finished. In the last 16months damage has been done to my vehicle on several occasions and still no agreement has been made despite me asking several times. I have not asked the company to cover the cost of the repairs due to the payments not being arranged still and thought it only fair. They are now saying I owe them from June 2017 at the price of the original unit and want it paid by the end of the month. The invoice states it's for the unit that no longer exists and parking. How can they charge me for a non existent building?.... Many thanks

nutcracker74 28/12/2018 at 8:26 pm

We removed our child from a gymnastics class due to my child being bullied by the coach and owner of the club. She (the coach) is now demanding a "terms" money (over £300) in compensation for taking her out before the next season starts. Can she do this under the circumstances?

Omo 23/09/2018 at 12:19 am

Hello,

when my husband received his wages yesterday, he was short pay and he checked with the payroll and ' they said the court brought a letter and asked for £185 plus to be paid to them from his wages and they paid the above amount without informing or seek the consent of my husband. Please is that not breach of contact? my husband was so upset and the employer are saying that he should not be.

Please advice.

Thank you for your time.

EB Editor 17/09/2018 at 11:33 am

@DGSH - you would have to apply to court, unfortunately.

DGSH 15/09/2018 at 10:06 pm

A pony went on loan in Aug 17. The loaner was offered to purchase the pony towards the end of the loan in July 18. However, the loaner is refusing return the pony citing various inaccurate reasons. What do we need to do?

HanN Editor 13/09/2018 at 11:16 am

@Maripon - unfortunately, yes, it is tough luck for you. There is little you can do about this.

JojO Editor 27/04/2018 at 10:38 am

@pat - as long as they give you the deposit back, there's not much you can do.

Tina 31/12/2017 at 3:16 pm

We hired a lighted backdrop and was damaged by wine being spilt on fabric not known by who maybe venue I’m now being threatened with county court. At wedding fayre we signed a agreement form stating only what we were having and how much on date and venue. They never mentioned damages etc I assumed they are covered by their insurance only document I have is a receipt to say I paid cash in full they are trying to make me pay for replacement of whole thing and loss of future weddings how do I stand

HN Editor 19/12/2017 at 10:11 am

@Veljibhai - do you have to pay for the terminal? You'd have to ring them and ask for their complaints procedure first and put in a complaint. This will allow them to try to resolve the issue.

Terri 25/09/2017 at 1:08 pm

I bought a horse with a 14 day warranty the horse was not suitable for my needs , I contacted seller and was told they didn't have the money but would exchange it or resell it on my behalf . I was not told this I expected my money back .

Terri 25/09/2017 at 1:05 pm

I bought a horse with a 14 day warranty, the horse is not suitable for my requirements, I contacted seller and they have said they will exchange it or resell it on my behalf. I just want my money back

Mm 13/08/2017 at 4:02 pm

Thank you for your reply about my issue with the caravan which was dirty on arrival. Before I go to the small claims court. he wanted me to wAit in Butlins whilst he arranged the cleaners to clean it,but I just went home due to the state of the caravan.
I have contacted him again and totally refused my money back saying that the cleaners would give me a £20 in compensation due to not cleaning my caravan before I got there.
Could you please let me know if I still have s case of getting my money back.

Thank you

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 11/08/2017 at 12:14 pm

If you cannot claim the money back from the person who hired the caravan to you, then you can take it to the small claims court. If the owner employed the cleaner - it is up to the owner to ensure the cleaner has done a proper job and the caravan is fit for purpose. It is not your responsibility. Therefore, you should be eligible for a refund.

Mm 11/08/2017 at 12:29 am

I paid for a holiday in a caravan privately owned. When I got to the caravan all outside the door was covered in cigarette butts. When I went it was dirty inside ants on the work tops, toilet dirty, floor had cugarette butts and food. I took photos informed the owner he replied that the cleaner was booked but obviously never cleaned it.
You just couldn't live in it do I returned the keys to Butlins and went home.

I have asked the owner to refund me my money but he has refused and says it's nothing to do with him it's the cleaners fault.

Where do I stand to get my money back plus my fuel money back,
Please help it's been going on since July.

Thankyou

Boycee 03/08/2017 at 12:48 pm

Hi I started work for a agency worked for 5 days then was told will take up to 7 days for my crc to come back to get me back into work I said that's fine but it's now been 4 weeks they got the crc but I'm still out of work can I clamefor loss of earning for last 3 week as they have had the crc an the place still needs staff but I'm not working as was told would take no more than 7 days

E 20/07/2017 at 11:25 am

Bought a fittted kitchen 3 months ago. Problems started with it straight away. Sinks and taps leaking. Cupboard doors coming off. Plastic strips coming of doors. Frost free freezer has ice at the bottom making it hard to open bottom draw. Then oven is makes a banging sound after it's been on for a 15/20mins. Coupboard doors are not level. Extracted fan pipe has been sellotaped at the top.
Called multiple times, and when we fix a date no one turns up.
Total cost £8000
Payed £7000

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 14/07/2017 at 3:10 pm

If the paperwork showed there were three payments due, then the school is under no obligation to remind you verbally also. Your only recourse is to complain directly to the school about the three-hour demand.

Chrissy 14/07/2017 at 1:58 pm

Hi
In oct 17 i signed up to my daughter going on a PGL weekend away with her school.
I paid the 2nd payment in feb 17.On the 2 march 17 i called the school to ask if all was uptodate and final for her to go.they said yes. 10 june 17 i had a disagreement with the school. Within 1 hr they sent me a text message demand a 3rd payment within 3 hrs or my daughter can not go on PGL. The 3rd and final payment had been due on the 10th march. But they never told me that there was a 3rd payment when i called them on the 2nd march.
After looking at the original paperwork. It does say that the trip has 3 payments.
They never mentioned this on the 10 june nor did they remind me at any time that there was money outstanding. Me and my daughter have suffered psychlogical stress. Can we claim for damages. Was the school legally obliged to give us a reminder after the 3rd date had passed. Were they entitled to demand money within 3 hrs or no trip?
Many thanks in advance for any help
Christine

Morph 18/06/2017 at 8:03 am

Bought a static caravan on a holiday park.sales agreement and all other paperwork says we purchased a 2010 van. We have now found out it's only a 2009.also the size is incorect and also the chassis number is incorrect .

vanilla 02/06/2017 at 1:25 pm

Is there a breach on this situation? Breach of Condition or Warranty?

An advertisement from Furniture store shown that there was a 50% discount on thier three seater sofa and will receive a gift which is two-seater sofa. The advertisement did mention subject to availability.

Belle brought the advertisement to the shop and asked for the sofa. She need to ask the permission from her husband so she decided to pay RM200 deposit to the staff and the staff accepted the money and promised to hold the sofa for two days. B be notified that the company only have limited two-seater sofa before she paying the deposit. Two days later, she went back to the furniture store but she noticed that the staff forgot to keep the sofa for her and it was out of stock now. The staff argued that the sofa is just a free gift and it is 'Subject to availability'.

JT Editor 17/05/2017 at 9:43 am

@Leena - you might get an extra pizza out of it :) Jed

Leena 16/05/2017 at 11:18 am

Hi, I ordered Pizza from Pizza Hut Online for collection and the confirmation said it should take 30mins. I got a text message confirming my order was being prepared so I made my way to the high street as I had a few shops that I needed to go to. After 45mins I still had not heard anything from Pizza Hut saying my order was ready so I walked to the store to find it was shut! By this point I was really hungry and upset, I called the customer services line and asked them what has happened and they said 'unfortunately, through no fault of their own, they have had to close due to a fault with the extractors', there was no apology and I was disgusted that I was not informed.

Terms:
"If we cannot accept your order. If we are unable to accept your order, we will inform you of this and will not charge you for the product. This might be because of, amongst other things, unexpected limits on our resources which we could not reasonably plan for, because we have identified an error in the price or description of the Product, due to particular Product not being available or if your local Hut is closed at the time of your order"
He then asked me if I wanted a refund (silly question), then he said the refund should take 16 working days to come back to me. I thought Consumer Act stated 14 days and on Pizza Hut terms and conditions it says 14, so they have got it so wrong.
Terms:
"How we will refund you. We will refund the price you paid for the Products by the method you used for payment. We will make any refunds due to you upon collection of the Products from your local Hut, or if this is not possible for whatever reason, please contact us via our online form and we shall process your refund as soon as is reasonably possible and in any event within 14 days"
Considering the first term said that they would not take money, I am finding myself waiting now for nearly 14 days. If they take longer then 14 days to give me my money back is there something I can do?
I am so angry at this whole experience!

Jayne 12/05/2017 at 4:22 pm

I am waiting the results of a home survey which at the time of making payment I was told would take 7 working days maximum, Its now day 8 and I've received nothing, no verbal communication or updates as was agreed at the time of payment and getting no joy from numerous phone calls which aren't being returned. I am entitled to e refund?

lindaloo 11/05/2017 at 8:41 pm

HI, need advice about vodafone. they told me i had not paid when i saw it on my statement and called my bank and gave them an authorisation number still i was told i hadnt paid. The blocked my phone and broadband service. i had to complain 3 times to get anything done. have they breached

Mister Editor 13/04/2017 at 11:20 am

@Justin - she will not be successful if there was a notice on the door saying the offer had been withdrawn.

Justin 12/04/2017 at 2:24 pm

On June 1st, TST Supermarkets advertise the opening of their new Badili branch in the local newspaper, as follows: Grand opening - 8 a.m. July 1st cash reward to our first customer.
Serah arrives outside the main entrance to the store at 6 a.m. on July 1st and is the first in the queue. She sees a notice on the entrance door, which states; The management regrets that the office of K100 cash to the first customer has been withdrawn, but will be replaced by a K100 voucher to spend in the store today.
When Sarah enters the store at 8 a.m. she asks for her K100 cash, but the manager says she can only have the K100 voucher. Serah is very angry, and leave the store without buying anything.
Serah claims she entitled to K100 cash, but TST Supermarkets contend there is no obligation to pay her. Will Serah claim for K100 successful?

JoJo Editor 10/04/2017 at 1:46 pm

@Paula - you certainly need to get them back to put this right that's for sure!

Bestuk 01/02/2017 at 6:50 pm

Hi there?
I bought a 2-bedroom leasehold property two year ago. The terms of the lease say the freeholder is responsible for external repairs and so on. I regularly pay my management and ground rent and owe nothing. Last year, I was told there were leaks into my flat and had caused rot and mold growth in many areas. This was after I just renovated the flat, hence my paintwork, etc were all a waste. I approached the freeholder to fix the leaks as they were coming from the roof, etc and only to be told they would not be doing it as mine is not the first one. They said they were looking at a meeting first of all leaseholders to know what they would and I should carry on paying my management fee. I told them no as now because of the leaks and mold, I have no tenant and the property is being under priced. We have had a similar meeting two years ago on how the freeholder would fix historical neglect with a programme involving a contribution from leaseholders and only to be watered down. I do not believe in theri meeting and so what can I do?

Firestorm 04/01/2017 at 8:31 pm

Hi
Some advice please.
Made a verbal agreement with a lady and payed a deposit for the cafe she run as she wanted out and was in debt with it.
2 days before we were due to take over she sends a text saying she's changed her mind and because of how much she owes landlord she would be walking away with nothing.
We verbal agreed.. shock hands and payed a deposit. Also we bought stock for cafe as well as mifi Internet and phone number for cafe.
We want this cafe. What are our legal rights.
Thanks in advance

Alana 20/12/2016 at 2:13 pm

My daughter has been in uni since September and has been renting and paying ret up until the end of October 16. She was eventually forced to stop paying rent to see if it would help get major repairs fixed and also to see if the agency could get rid of the rats that have now found their way into the property! It appeared that in many occasions attempts were being made to fix these repairs but never successfully, indeed on a few occasions the proper trades men weren't sent out to the property to resolve, in actual fact this resulted in matters getting worse!! Today a meeting was called between clients, land lord and letting agency where only 2 clients could attend resulting in The letting agency passing blame for a lot of the problems and the land lord not actually knowing about most of the problems! Full admission on this at meeting! The land lord has now made a "good will gesture" of £200 to each party living at the property. Provided all rent arrears are paid in the next 24hours.. 6pm on the 21/12/16.. Landlord is refusing to document this as "compensation" and all repairs haven't been fixed yet and rats were heard in the cavity walls last week!! Where do we stand going forward?? Help needed please!!

Nicole 02/12/2016 at 10:06 am

Hi! I am looking for your advice. Me & my family are members of the DL club. We were verbally abused and threatened. The evidence has been recorded on a phone and the person was pleaded guilty and had a conditional caution from the police. However, DL club decided to keep him in the gym that put us in the position no longer to visit the club. I went through the terms and conditions and it was clearly says that if you were verbally abused or threatened by other member, he will be immediately ban from the gym. It didn't happen. We phoned to head office and got a response that if we won't come we won't have any problems. What I must do?

Steveonsky 14/11/2016 at 5:08 pm

Can anyone help!
I recently left double glazing company. They are threating me with court action after I asked one of their fitters to mend my door and offered to pay him.
They fitter was going to do in his own time and use my materials. Should I be worried or are they just bullying me.

Rachael 16/10/2016 at 11:20 am

We have had our wedding booked for the last year and with 9 weeks to go we have found out through social media that our wedding venue is having a pantomime in the room adjoining ours that will still be running during our ceremony. We were made aware when booking that there may be evening work events or another wedding on the same day however there was no mention of an event of this noise level or volume of people during the day. There is nothing in the terms and conditions about there being another event taking place on the same day and the venue did not contact us directly to inform us of this day event. This event could impact so many aspects of our day. Is there any case for us if we were to take this further if the venue can't resolve this issue?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 13/10/2016 at 10:10 am

If you have been threatened with legal action, I suggest you seek legal advice . You also need to check the terms of the school agreement for particualr relevant clauses. If you complained/objected at the time and have evidence of this, then this will help your case.

C 12/10/2016 at 6:45 am

I had 2 children in a private school that gave us notice that it would be closing at the end of the next term. During the last term the education was not consistent, teachers looking for jobs and pupils being moved to alternative schools. Classes where distrusted due to teachers not available and on one occasion a janitor was left in charge of a class. I refused to pay full fees and how now been threatened with legal action if I do not pay.

Hawk007 25/08/2016 at 9:47 pm

In February this year I launched a new will-writing business.
I retained the Virtual Office Services of a market-leading enterprise agency, which meant that all of my business stationery and publicity material ( on which my launch campaign was based) involved their address, phone number etc.
But when potential cutovers called their office ( my dedicated phone number) they failed to pass on to me the enquiries. It took me x4 months to discover what was happening , believing the problem to be my promotional marketing leaflet.
I'm planning to take legal proceedings against them if mediation fails. I'm looking for compensation around £6,000-7,000. My business start up costs were £6,500.
I will need to start again from scratch. Have you any advice for me, anyone?

Vickicrow 19/07/2016 at 10:08 pm

I booked 2 flights for me and my husband on 3rd July cost of £3110. On 4th July the online travel agent contact me to advise the outbound flight was delay by 13hrs and return brough forwards 24hours. The t&c state any change over 12 hours I am entitle to full refund. I requested full refund which they accepted and said would take 3 working days. After constant calls and promise that it was being processed it's still not been paid now 19th July. Where do I stand and how can I escalate this breach of t&c as not having any luck on the phone and getting worried I won't receive it.

Kevin 27/06/2016 at 12:44 pm

Any advice for my previous comment most welcome thanks

Kevin 17/06/2016 at 10:20 am

I have gotten a pcn for parking on private land with anpr camera's it's one hour free parking but I was about 20 minutes over due to passing out on the way back to my vehicle.
I have written to them to appeal against the ticket with a letter from a shop owner whose premises I was taken into and a passer-by who helped me
But they say I still have to pay, the fine is £100 more than a day's wages for me
I can't afford to pay it
Do I have to?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 16/06/2016 at 2:16 pm

You would have to seek legal advice regarding this. We unfortunately can't answer case-specific questions.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 16/06/2016 at 12:46 pm

I am sorry to hear this, please see gov.uk link here for further information regarding your rights.

William B 15/06/2016 at 5:33 pm

We run a shoe shop. A local business approached us to run a shoe repair service within our shop. They paid us a monthly fee for the use of our space and equipment, and kept all proceeds from this service. They started to draw up a contract, which took ages and by which time we had already started the arrangement. By the time they presented us with the contract it had become apparent to us that the arrangement wasn't working, so it didn't feel appropriate to sign the contract so we didn't. We ended the arrangement after 6 weeks, they seemed ok with this and even nominated their own end date. We refunded their rent pro-rata. If we had signed the contract there would have been a three month probation period, but there would also have been a non refundable deposit, which we didn't take. They are now threatening legal action if we don't compensate them for loss of earnings, although we didn't pay their wages and the figure they have come with seems to be arbitrary. Do they have a case for damages?

TP 15/06/2016 at 3:14 pm

A contract was signed and exchanged between me and my future employer on the 4th May to commence work on 4th July. I heard yesterday that they no longer need me. In the meantime I have turned down permanent job offers waiting for this position to start. Do I have any legal rights for compensation.

Sue 08/06/2016 at 1:29 pm

To cut along story short,I have been with BT since March 2015. I have been paying for BT infinity.Untill an engineer came out to resolve problems on the phone line and with broadband were we made aware that we were only on normal broadband,and have never been on fibre optic. We have made a complaint to BT . Legally do you think this
is a breach of contract

Mike 06/06/2016 at 9:12 pm

I signed an investment contract of £2500 (as the "Investor") with a Cafe/Lounge entrepreneur to support the renovation works to complete an event centre & cafe. One of the terms/conditions of the contract was that 10% interest of the amount invested will be paid to me every thirty days beginning from the day the event centre/cafe is officially opened for business but it's been 53 days since they (completed) opened the centre for business with good patronage without my first interest payment. I contacted the director after the first 40 days of business but he pleaded for additional time . However, the time he pleaded for has elapsed and he wants another extension.
Question: Do I sue for the losses and full refund of the amount invested or terminate the contract first before suing for breach of contract?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 06/06/2016 at 10:47 am

Much depends on what the original contract says and whether it specifies that it can change prices at any point in the contract agreement. If it does, then there is little you can do and it's in your better interests that the contract will soon come to an end as at least you do not have to renew it once it expires. So check your contract and do an email search to see whether they have emailed you and you didn't read it at the time, or it went into your junk mail folder. The company will also re-send the email if you ask.

stodgey 05/06/2016 at 8:11 am

i had taken out an 18 month broadband contract with talk talk on the 3/3 2015.free broadband for the first 12months,then £3.50 for the remainder of the contract.firstly after about 11 months they put up my line rental £1 a month, now 14 months into my contract they have charged me an extra £4 amonth ,i now have to pay £7.50 a month broadband .they said because they have emailed me about the price change, that theres nothing i can do.i genuinely dont recall recieving these emails.i always thought a contract was legally binding and couldnt be changed,but obviously not to these vampires, they said if i dont like it to leave,but if i do i will be charged a fee.

Harry 03/06/2016 at 9:08 pm

I signed a contract and paid 70% verbal contract. They started work but after a week didn't come back due to ill staff. We asked for a return date which they wouldn't give. A few days later we had a letter of breach of contract that said the signed contract was 85% so they would not come to work. We argued this at first then said give us a start date and we will pay it. 7 days after none turn up to work they came to collect their equipment and said the contract had ended. In the first week of work they had been to our house twice for meetings and never mentioned the amount owing. They started without the full amount. Surely 7 days and one letter is not enough time after taking £40k and doing 5% work which is now found to be incorrect

dals21534dja 03/06/2016 at 1:08 pm

With regards to the joint tenant in common agreement. When the property was purchased I paid the full deposit £192K and my partner in the agreement had to pay £6250. This was paid a year later not as was stimulated in the agreement.

By virtue of having a bigger share in the property, in the agreement becomes null and void does that mean my partner will be entitled to 50% of the property and can he force me to sell the property despite not keeping to his side of the agreement

dals21534dja 03/06/2016 at 1:03 pm

I have a tenancy in common agreement with my current partner which states that the property we jointly own should be sold if the relationship breaks down. The agreement also stimulates that both parties (me and my partner) are to share the bills including paying the insurance. The agreement also states my partner is to pay 80% of the mortgage. None of this agreement has been adhered to and my partner has only paid 67% of the mortgage, made no payments towards insurance and only started paying his share of the bills in 2015. We have jointly owned the property for 5 years. I want to buy him out he want to sell as per the contract. As he has defaulted on the terms of the contract can I sue him for breach of contract and is the agreement still valid?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 24/05/2016 at 11:29 am

I'm afraid in this instance you would have to take professional legal advice regarding this as this is beyond our remit to advise.

Cjacs 23/05/2016 at 1:39 pm

A question?
I enters into a contract to take a TESOL course at an fe college. I paid the fee and signed the contract. Was reported to be doing well until I voiced concerns about the professionalism of the lead tutor. Three days later she made an allegation and I was suspended and then excluded from the course there was no written disciplinary procedure thencomplaintant interferes in the investigation the final decision maker told me before enquiry that they had complete confidence in the complainant

The enquiry refused to speak to any witness that would support my case and then there was no right to appeal

Have they breached the contract? They took my money and slung me off the course two and a half weeks before the end for a made up allegation after a kangaroo court enquiry I paid my 1300£ and got nothing

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 20/05/2016 at 1:51 pm

I'm afraid there is little you can do here legally if the contract was verbal.

Martin 19/05/2016 at 10:19 pm

I entered into a verbal contract with a client for garden maintanance and have been paying me for 8 months. Then the client decided to terminate the contract claiming I am not performing whereas I was. What remedies can I pursue?

Vi 12/05/2016 at 7:41 pm

My sister and I went for a trip where the flight was late.
Upon return i asked for compensation to the airline and was declined. I then upon suggestion of a friend used Flight Delays to re-try and won the case and got half of the money i was supposed to because of their ridiculous fee!!! When the airline contacted me that my compensation was being paid to Flight Delays they also asked for my bank details to get full compensation for my sister.
I got the refund for my sister who does not even live in the UK and in the mean time my sister instructed by myself but late applied through Flight Delays website too without understanding even a word of english.
They are now contacting her for breaching the contract, although she does not live in the UK, and asking her to pay £190 from the £212 I got for her from the airline. They're threatening they'll go to court but can they actually proceed with a court hearing as she's not even a resident of the UK????

Jan 05/05/2016 at 12:38 am

I paid for guitar lessons for my son with the aim of it helping get him into a school I stated this and was told yes I can do that it never happened I let it go and accepted the schools reasons he had a bad audition. Kept the lesson but wasn't happy and felt let down. Through time the tutor went to a course I wasn't aware of this and turned up for the lesson I was worried as the previous weeks lessons was called on late by her due to her gran dying then another whe her dog died. Owing me four lessons. Then the show came up we paid our fee which was rather excessive for the privilege of showcasing what was taught and achieved it was dismal I and other we're not impressed. We should have got a video and that was last December still waiting. This last month I didn't know it was closed for Easter and then my son had a serious incident at school could not attend and then a death so in total we were now 7 lessons behind I cancelled the DD and advised I wouldn't be paying until he was upto date or I get a refund. He has been unerolled she claims he has to take alternate lessons that do not fit in with his other activities and he already had to leave one club when she changed the day she said I signed and agreed to this but I told her when she changed to the day he was only going to be able to do that one day a week so how else do I make the missed lessons up she said I am not getting a refund I feel I have been adaptable to her needs and she is just always taking money and not listening he is upset due to being forced out of clubs to catch up I can send the agreement however I don't think it's a legal boning thing more a rule things all I wanted was to stop paying and losing out . Then I asked about concert video still no answer I feel she has breached the terms of that.

RogerU Editor 24/08/2017 at 12:36 pm

@None - if you gave the home-owner a price to do the job, then you have to honour that price, even if it puts you out of pocket.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 03/05/2016 at 11:16 am

I'm afraid in this instance you would need to seek some legal advice due to the complexities of the issue.

None 02/05/2016 at 12:49 pm

Good day, I bought a membership in a company and as I understand, I received fractional ownership in terms of which I paid 33000 pounds and in respect of which I would receive a return of 12.5% p.a. payable in equal quarterly payments. The founder member has now unilaterally decided not to make any quarterly payments for a year. The Sale Agreement as far as I can see does not make provision for a Breach clause and I assume the common law will apply. Should I place the founder member on terms in terms of the common law to remedy the breach by paying the 2 arrear quarterly payments, failing, I reserve my rights to cancel the agreement and/or to request performance and to claim damages? May I also confirm that all legal costs incurred by me as a result of the breach will be borne by him? Thanks for your assistance. Renier

Sean 30/04/2016 at 4:54 pm

Hi, am an independent sales agent, whom had my indefinite term contract terminated, due to 'fundamental breach'. I do not think this is the case, and that the company is simply cutting costs. What constitutes 'fundamental' breach, vs. a decrease in sales, due to problems in the marketplace, which is the actual case? Thanks, Sean.

Brenda 28/04/2016 at 10:15 pm

I worked through a consulting company and we had an agreement that I will work for them for one year.They took 40%of my salary but after 6 months they promised to increase the pay as per the contract agreement.I worked hard and got good recommendation letter.After 6 months they refused to increase the salary and didn't give any reason. After one year, my contract with them ended and I went through another consultating agency. They got upset stating that I breached the contract by working for their competitor and they will hold my one month pay. Is this legal? I worked hard for that money and I don't see somewhere on the contract that they should hold my one month pay.

Natalie 28/04/2016 at 3:05 pm

The probation was for 3 months which he has obviously passed. I have spoken to ACAS and they said because he hasn't been employed for 2 years he can't have them for unfair dismissal unless it qualifies as an automatic unfair dismissal. They think it may be a case of breach of contract if nothing else as I say he had no pre warning and the place the repair was done, was not in his contract to work there and in the staff handbook it says the process of going through any problems is verbal and written first. The issue they are complaining about is literally a 10mm hole in a cupboard! Hardly qualifies for gross misconduct!

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 28/04/2016 at 11:59 am

It depends whether he was still on probation (in which case his employer can dismiss him without recourse to answer if he thinks he is not right for the job). If he has passed his probation, then it makes it more difficult for his company to dismiss him. It is difficuly to say without knowing the full details of the company's complaint of his work, but if you feel he has been dismissed uneccesarily then he should give ACAS a call to see whether his employer is within his rights. Also, before he does, your husband will need to check his contract to see whether he has flouted any part of the terms himself.

Natalie 27/04/2016 at 2:56 pm

My husband has been working for a company since last November, so about 6 months. He did have a full time permanent contract of employment. He has however after returning to work after 2 weeks sickness, had his return to work interview then called out again by another member of staff and told they have to let him go! When he asked why, they said it was because of work he did on the owners own property. Bearing in mind, he was only contracted to work in 5 properties of business and not in her house! He was also not given an opportunity to rectify the problem at any time. He had also had a review done after this and there were no issues brought up and they were satisfied with his performance. This personal job was also mentioned which it shouldn't of been as again it wasn't work related as such! He wouldn't of been insured if he had caused any damages to her property or himself I'm sure! He has received no verbal or written warnings and no notice of termination of employment but have said they will pay him till the end if the month! Have they breached their contract?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 08/04/2016 at 11:45 am

I think in this case you would need to contact the company directly and issue a complaint in writing. You certainly have a case to answer if the specifications of the lorry offered were not in line with the specifications of the lorry he is applying for a licence to drive.

Joanne22 07/04/2016 at 2:30 pm

Hi we recently paid a training company 1325.00 for CATEGORY C lessons for my husband when he arrived on his start date they said the actual category c lorry was being repaired and he could drive the smaller c1 lorry. It was assured that the correct lorry would be made available next day however when he arrived it was again not available and this time was given a different lorry. Does this count as a breach of contract ? We paid for him to learn a specific type to gain his licence for work. When he arrived a third day again the lorry was not available by this time I rang my husband and told him to come home his actual test was supposed to be 2 days away and he hasn't to date learned to drive in correct lorry so had no hope in hell of passing his test. He hadn't had chance to learn the gears as were different in each lorry they gave him or gain the correct judgments for going round corners ect could you tell me where we stand thanks

K 02/04/2016 at 8:43 am

We provisionally booked a wedding venue. Upon booking the venue verbally promised that the day was ours and they would call us to give us first refusal if anyone else wanted to space. We visited twice in person to talk about the arrangements. We also have a email trail discussing the date with them and a sheet with info about the venue that states that bookings are not confirmed without a deposit unless agreed otherwise -(which we had done both in person and via email).

When we went to pay our deposit about 6 weeks later they told us the day had been given away. We explained we had booked a registrar and started making arrangements but that said it was their policy not to confirm bookings without a deposit. When I pointed out the clause mentioned above they would not acknowledge this. They did try to call the other guest but the other guest will not move their booking. The venue did apologise for the upset but kept saying it was our own fault for not paying the deposit, despite the fact they had previously said it was ok and that they would notify us before giving it away.

The other dates offered by the venue are not suitable so now we will have to find somewhere else at short notice and increased cost, not to mention the emotional cost of losing our dream venue. Does this constitute a breach of contract and would it be feasible to take any action against them? Nothing was signed but we do have the email trail as evidence of the date being booked.

Simon 19/03/2016 at 10:19 pm

Booked a holiday with LoveHolidays in January. Paid over £700 deposit and received email confirmation of holiday. They contacted us this month to say holiday now unavailable as overbooked. They offered unsuitable alternatives and have refused any refund. They state as per terms they are 3rd party agent acting on our instructions and not liable for any failiure of suppliers. They say the flights booked by them with Ryanair are paid for and not refundable. They say Hotel was booked through third party agency who have now told them it is unavailable. Is LoveHolidays in breach or the agent they used to book hotel who have now failed to deliver? Looking to seek refund in full

Blandy 18/03/2016 at 10:43 pm

I have a contract for a 2 year car warranty. The contract says Evans and Halshaw on the top of every page and also has the dealerships stamp on it. I've had a problem with the car and contacted the dealership, my partner took the car down and they would only look at the car to see if the problem we told them was under warranty we would have to pay £90 The problem as we told them was down to the heater blowing cold air out. Obviously I wasn't going to just not try and get this fixed under the warranty I had payed £450 so had to pay the £90 to find out. I have now been told no heater problems or parts are covered on my contract. Surly if I reported a heater fault, why did I have to pay £90 to have them say it wasn't covered. Nowhere does it state in the contract I would have to pay this amount to diagnose whether the car would be covered for repairs or not and also they say my cover isn't with there company and its not there problem they won't fix it or that they charge you £90 to then tell you its not covered, even though it's there company name and stamp on the contract. Would in your opinion this be a breach of contract in anyway.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 17/03/2016 at 11:44 am

There is no legally binding agreement in this case and the owner has no legal recourse to force your sister to buy the car.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 17/03/2016 at 11:13 am

I cannot see the clause in your contract as we cannot accept attachments. If there was a restrictive covenants in the contract of employment, then it depends on how you 'stole' the customers, i.e if your former employer could 'prove' it has lost custom due to your direct actions. However, there is little your employer can do if you had already left the position and advertised yourself, as competition is free and you are allowed to advertise in whatever way you choose.

Lenski 16/03/2016 at 7:28 pm

My sister was going to buy a car just before Xmas last year and went into a verbal agreement that the woman was going to sell her the car, but she never heard anything back from the seller. After Xmas my sister forgot about buying the car and the owner phoned up saying she could come and get it, but after time has went by she hasn't the money and doesn't want the car now, but the owner is saying they have a legally binding agreement. Is this correct? And is there any other cases that have been taken to court about this type of thing, cause it's really upsetting her.

Gh80 16/03/2016 at 3:39 pm

Hi

I worked, employed, at a salon as a senior hair stylist for thirteen years.

I've recently set up my own business & set up a Facebook page.
Some clientele have found me & I am now doing their hair.

My old employer has sent me a 'no prejudice' email saying that he has been told that I've taken clients & seen my Facebook page & is now threatening court action against me.

I need to know where I stand.

I have attached a clause from my contract that I am unsure if having a Facebook page constitutes as soliciting clientele.
They are sending letters to clients offering free treatments.

di 12/03/2016 at 7:40 pm

if someone offered to sell a car to me nd I accept the terms but he sold it to another party while I was to purchase it before the agreed time..so can I sue him for breach of contract? and what are my chances of winning?

Angie 10/03/2016 at 11:30 am

Internal renovation- agreed verbally 2weeks. After constant complaints and builders having to redo work. E.g.. wall plastered and r eplastered in parts approx 6 times. The total time taken for all snags to be put right was 4months. Eventually company Director visited apologised and got repairs done. He was told how distressed I'd been. Kitchen unuseable etc. I asked for compensation. He said let's wait until the works done and I will see what can be done. I've now sent a complaint saying i will take them to a small claims court as ive heard nothing. They still have not replied to Thiis either.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 29/02/2016 at 10:05 am

I can only suggest you catalogue the mistakes and seek legal advice from an equity solicitor regarding the breach of contract and to see whether you have any recourse.

Stuck abroad 28/02/2016 at 1:15 am

I entered into a contract to work abroad for a theatre company, however, since hen they have broken the contract and I have noticed it is full of mistakes I am no longer enjoying my work out here and would like to return home however it also states in the contract that should I leave I am responsible for paying all the costs of finding a new actor flying them out and so on however as there are so may issues with the contract is there any way I could get out of this without having to pay?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 24/02/2016 at 3:01 pm

If it was in writing you may have a case. I suggest you take some legal advice from a solicitor with experience in this area, as buying the freehold can be a difficult process.

Peeshee 23/02/2016 at 8:06 pm

My landlord offered me the freehold to my flat for £250.00 mainly because over the 16yrs I have lived here I have looked after the gardens, the insurances and work carried out to the property. I have always paid my ground rent promptly without any fuss. My landlord has now reneged on our contract even though it was in writing and duly signed. He says he has contacted a company namely "Groungrents" who have offered him £16.000.00 for the freehold. Do I have any legal grounds to sue him for Breach of Contract.

Thanking you in anticipation

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 23/02/2016 at 10:06 am

You can contact the Pensions Advisory Service directly to answer your question via the linkhere. I hope this helps.

Mr j 22/02/2016 at 8:19 am

I have a contract saying the company will pay 1% of your earnings( or more if required by law) into a pension fund, but no such thing is being done. Please help with any advice

Kat 13/02/2016 at 9:07 am

I sold my pony recently for a low price to what I thought was a lovely lifetime home. I was careful to draft a written contract to say that a condition of sale at this low price was that the pony first be offered back to me at no more than the sale price and that the address at which she is kept be made known to me. We both signed and dated and had a copy each. All was fine for 4 weeks then I was offered her back as unsuitable and the girl was now expecting. I said I would need to find a place for the pony to be. When I went back to her yesterday to say I had done so and that I could collect and re pay the money she had an absolute fit. She said she had someone looking at the pony next day. When I reminded her about the terms of our agreement she was really ride and said she has decided not to sell. This isn't true , I think she is selling her for profit, dealing if you like. I have a marker on her horse passport so I will be notified if the pony is sold and ownership is changed. Where do I stand and am I able to recover my pony and enforce the contract?

Pete Editor 09/02/2016 at 2:44 pm

@Reg - small claims court. Write a letter saying if the jobs aren't done by a certain time, then you are going to make a claim through the courts.

Reg 05/02/2016 at 2:47 pm

A contract of sale for a house purchase has a rider clause covering 'snagging' repairs for a year. The builder is refusing to act and has not been responding to written requests to undertake the usual repairs associated with a new-build for the last seven months. I presume that this is a breach of contract. Any advice would be welcome.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 05/02/2016 at 2:42 pm

I would send a registered letter requesting the cancellation and asking for a refund within a specified time. You could also refer to its contract tems and list the times you have tried to contact the B&B directly. Should you not hear anything further, and you are not given a refund, you may have to then threaten taking the matter to the Small Claims court.

silly old grandad 05/02/2016 at 1:04 pm

I booked a room through a website with guaranteed free cancellation up to one week before arrival. I tried to cancel four months before arrival but the b&b refuses to answer my emails & phone calls. I contacted the "merchants" (eviivo) who had processed my debit card payment in full, but they said it is the b&b's responsibility to "press the cancellation button" on the hardware they had provided, as eviivo is not their agent agent.
How can I get my money as long as the bb refuses to honour its contract?

PD66 27/01/2016 at 3:41 pm

I was recently looking for a property with homesearch agents. due to my own situation my father applied to stand guarantor, the agents didn't do the necessary checks of income before taking a fee of £150 from myself. if this check had of been done they would have known that my father infact doesn't have the necessary income to stand guarantor. the agents are now refusing to refund me the £150.

ren1405 13/01/2016 at 2:34 pm

We recently began works to fix a leak underneath a car park situated outside a nightclub, we had issues regarding scaffolding which needed to be removed prior to us beginning the works, which caused delays. When we began sourcing the leak, we could not specifically locate where the leak was and intended to re-map the area to investigate further but require the owners consent before costs started rising, we were ordered off the site and told not to come back with the owner, who will not pay us, despite us credited back some of the work which was not completed, their defence is we breached the contract materially. However we were told we could not complete the contract, who is right.

Many Thanks

nocker 06/01/2016 at 2:08 pm

Hi I own a small childrens football coaching school, the children at the time of the incidents ranged from 2 to 5 year olds. The school that we hired the facilities from drafted a contract stipulating that they would charge me £20 per hour for the facilities and in return we would provide the venue at specific times ie.... every Saturday from 10am to 1pm. Then the first incident occurred, the school failed to open the facilities with no explanation, however our classes where due to begin and our customers and ourselves were left standing outside waiting to get in. Our clients had pre-paid for their lessons, however we were unable to contact the later classes that the facilities had not been opened so we had to wait outside the venue and explain that although they had paid in advance we could not provide the contracted classes. We had roughly 15 children in each of the three classes paying £6 per child = 45x£6= £270 minus the venue hire. This happened a further 2 times before we found a new venue. The failure to open the facilities cost the club over £700, we lost custom as this was damaging to our reputation. When we left I informed the school that the £500 outstanding fees for the hire of the venue would not be paid as their breaches of contract had cost us significantly more. some time later they took me to small claims court, I was unaware as we had move house also so we received no notice of the action hence I did not appear. I understand that these are two separate issues but the utter cheek of the school has made me determinate to fight back can I bring a case against the venue provider [the school] for Breach of Contract leading to damage to reputation, causing a cash flow problem and also causing financial hardship, I am spitting feathers about this injustice
Many thanks
Simon

Lady D 27/12/2015 at 3:42 pm

I signed a contract for my 14 yr old son to join a football club, however the coach has been verbally abusive to him ie using expletives and denigrating his performance at a match also has wrongfully accused him of theft and used belittling, intimidating behaviour towards him. Is this breach of contract? As you're not supposed to leave a club mid season

mj 16/12/2015 at 9:05 pm

Sampson was selling his television set for 500 cedis and his friend wanted to offer 400 cedis. later his friend heard that he had sold it to another person for 300 cedis so his decided to sue him for a breach of contract. advice his friend

Wilkes 14/12/2015 at 5:50 pm

Good afternoon,
Back in 2014 I needed to update a e-commerce website. I was approached by the company who had recently bough the original company that hosted the site. A meeting was held where I signed a contract. I was informed at the time a copy signed by them would be sent in due course. This has filed to materialise. Does that constitute a breach?

Some work may have allegedly been done by them but, after asking many times for proof of such work, it was always delayed and, no "live" site has ever been shown - only a screenshot or two. Several payments have been made by us but nothing has ever come from the company regarding a site. Today they have dumped a number of old invoices and statement previously unsent that are many months old. (They now want to threaten legal proceedings.) Would that stand up in law?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 09/12/2015 at 11:12 am

I think in this case you would need to speak with ACAS to determine what your contract says and the type of apprenticeship you're on. While an apprentice does not have to attend college as your apprenticeship can be delivered to you in the workplace by a desiganted NVQ assessor, you will need to find out whether your company is legally allowed to change the terms of your contract if it had included a paid college placement.

tony 08/12/2015 at 1:28 pm

I made an agreement with a friend to assist him to start his business, I sold him my equipment and I gave him my time slot of the premises, after 2 months he told me that the business was not working and that hecould not do it. so in all fairness I bought back the equipment on the understanding he would return the time slot to me. we agreed the transaction and signed and witnessed the deal.The money was paid for the equipment, just for the transfer of the time slot to be changed he refused to allow me to have the premises backt. I was very upset feeling I had been duped by my kindness to help him. so that he had no loss, he cheated me in return. what can I do to get the time slot back, I wrote to the owner on the premises but they said I had to sort it out with my friend, but he is not interested, he is now wanted to use the premises for something else for himself

Roo 08/12/2015 at 8:39 am

I under took an apprenticeship last September and was told I would be going to college and my contract and job description states that I would receiving on the job practical training aswell as formal training (eg college) to receive an actual qualification to allow me to Finnish my apprenticeship. I was also told I would have to wait a year before starting college the same time this September because it was to late to enrol in college when I only just started. So after waiting a year of working full time for the company it came to me being released one day a week for college which was fine for me and my employer. Until 2 months into the course they had decided to pull me out of the course, and the HR manager told me that my manager thought my time will be better spent in the workshop as they are short staffed. By that I mean I'm the only full time workshop member of staff for my department after they had made cuts. Is this a breach of my contract and what can I do about it if it is? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

old Horse 07/12/2015 at 9:24 pm

e pay a company to do Ground Maintenance 6 months in advance, as do other households on our large estate. After several months of no maintenance we made contact and was advised there was problems with their contactor. Eventually the new contarctors visited. We have now been billed for another 6 month period and have requested a refund through the Estate Management.

After e mailing a request for a refund as the contract was not fullfilled for the last period of payment. The Estate Managers have advised no refund is due.

Surely this senario is a breach of contract? Please can you help ?

Zac 05/12/2015 at 3:29 pm

I am doing IT contracting. I had signed a contract for developing a product for 15 days. Pay schedule was weekly. But the scope of the project was much more than the initial Spec. The client approved my 10 days pay and got paid. But the project was never completed due to change of spec and I was working with client for getting it finished. Now after 2 years the agency terminates the contract as the client no longer needs it . They are asking me to return the 10 days pay . Am I liable to return the payment which I received because the client has approved my time sheets for those 10 days?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 03/12/2015 at 11:23 am

I'm afraid not. The shop-keeper is under no obligation to keep items for someone on a verbal promise to buy.

Nicole 02/12/2015 at 6:42 pm

Hiya- I went to a shop and saw some products I wanted to buy but didn't have the money at that moment. I asked the shop owner if I could come back the following friday and buy ten items. She said that sounds great, but when I came back she had none in stock! Would that count as breach of contract?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 02/12/2015 at 12:42 pm

If you signed the agreement then yes, as your landlord should have made sure the property would be made available to you on the agreed date. Therefore, the landlord has breached their side of the contract and you may be able to claim for any financial loss their breach has caused you i.e additional removal fees, hotel expenses etc. However, you can only claim within reason and you would need to be seen to be minimising this cost, i.e not booking into a luxury hotel etc. The court will look at what expenses you have incurred, but also your role in attempting to mitigate your expenses. I hope this helps.

Mr Eddy 01/12/2015 at 9:08 pm

I have a 12 month tenancy agreement, 1 day before I was due to move in the landlord informs me the previous tennants are refusing to move out. I have committed to move out of my current accomadation and am now homeless, this has put my job at risk and caused financial difficulties. Can I sue the landlord for breach of contract?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 17/11/2015 at 10:09 am

This is quite tricky ground as regardless of what they signed, even if you manage to put the property on the market, you will still be dealing with unreliable tenants who by their track record are likely to either let potential viewers down, or perhaps leave the place a mess in order to put off potential buyers. On a personal note; when I was looking for a house recently, I viewed one with a tenant, it was the most honest viewing I'd ever had, as rather than concealing the downsides of the property, the tenant pointed out everything that was wrong with the property (this was obviously a tenant who did not wish to move). It seems your main priority is to make sure the tenant leaves. If they are up to date on the rent, then perhaps as a reverse psychology step it might be worthwhile to offer a bonus or financial insentive to the tenants for allowing viewings and moving out promptly. Otherwise, if your tenants refuse to leave, then you must follow strict procedures please see gov.uk whichAlso, if you need further advice on the viewing agreements and contracts, you could use the Just Answer whichI hope this helps.

Shelly 16/11/2015 at 3:06 pm

Does the tort of negligence law override terms and conditions in a contract?
In other words if there is a contract whereby 1 party indemnifies another party against damage or injury, would this contract term mean that they would take full responsibility if there is any loss and the other party no longer has a duty of care? or can the other party that has been indemnified still be questioned as per the tort of negligence?

Loz 16/11/2015 at 11:32 am

We have a tenant who has been served two months notice. They signed a contract via a letting agency where they agreed to allow viewings etc. The tenant wants to stay for a further two months but we need to sell the house for financial reasons so need them to leave at the end of their notice. They are not responding to the agency appointed to sell the property so we can't get it on the market to sell. The lettings agent have also advised they may not leave at the end of the term either. These tenants have been been bad payers also. The agent said they do not have to give access to prospective buyers. Surely I'd they signed a contract saying they would allow then surely they have to?

Chris 14/11/2015 at 8:38 am

Sally made an offer to sell her fish pond to Harry for £600 on Tuesday. Harry replied: ‘I will buy it if I can raise the money.’ Sally promised that she would not sell to anyone else before Sunday, and added that Harry could collect the pond any time before noon on Sunday. On Thursday, Harry phoned and left a message with Sally's son, Jack, saying that he had got the money and would come to collect the pond on Sunday morning. Jack forgot to pass on the message. On Friday, Sally was visited by Bob who said that he would pay £700 for the pond. Sally accepted this offer. Later that day Sally posted a letter to Harry telling him that he could not have the pond. The postman, delivered it to the wrong address and Harry, who never received the letter, appeared with a hired van to collect the pond at 11 o’clock on Sunday morning.Advise sally of her legal position.
Is the offer a valid offer or invitation to treat?
Is the acceptance valid if the message was left with the son and not actually communicated with the offeror? I know the revocation is not valid as it was never received.
Please can you help interpret this.
Would Sally have to pay Harry's damages (hired van) or was there no valid contract?

minimadey 13/11/2015 at 4:18 am

I negotiate to buy laptop from a friend which we all agreed on the amount after paying about 95% of the money he is saying he no more interested in the sale so he will pay back my money.
I need advice please

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 12/11/2015 at 2:35 pm

As a general rule, I'm afraid there isn't really much you can do here unless a deposit had been made beforehand. Even then, the seller still has the option to refund the deposit and withdraw the sale of goods.

Mich 11/11/2015 at 2:19 pm

What happens if somebody offers to sell me something, I go to their house to go buy it but they have already sold it to somebody else. They said they sent a revocation of offer but I did not receive it.
What happens if I have specifically gone and raised the funds to buy the goods. Or what if they are just saying they have sold the stuff and haven't yet, can I force the sale?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 11/11/2015 at 11:04 am

The Financial Ombudsman details are free to all to find, , you don't have to access them through your catalogue company, they are accessible online.

import 10/11/2015 at 9:15 pm

We import commodities into the UK from our supplier in EU. Usually we sign contract for delivery with the client here in UK and then we sign the purchase contract with the supplier. With the both parties we agree and write in the contract when the delivery should be done. With our last Purchase contract with the supplier we signed the loading of the goods to be first week of November and delivery end of November in UK. For the last two week he doesn't answer me the phone and doesn't reply to my mails. Now I just spoke with him and he told be that has been in hospital for long time and will do the loading after 4 weeks - delivery in UK one month after agreed terms.
I am not sure whether my client will accept this new terms. It is more likely to discontinue the contract.
The result will be missing profit for us, and also loosing the chance to make couple more deliveries for the same client.
My question is if we can claim payment for braking contract from supplier and also damages for future profits. But the biggest problem is with the reputation of our small company, which we have build for years with this client and with one single failure of supplier we will loose our positions on the market.
I will appreciate your advise.

Thank you.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 10/11/2015 at 2:06 pm

As long as the course continues with replacement tutors, then no. Only if the college could not continue to offer you the course, could you consider this as a breach.

shelly 10/11/2015 at 8:32 am

If I have a contact with a supplier and in the contract terms it specifies that they are to respond to call outs within 24 hours and they tell me they are short staffed and can only get to me in 4 days time, am I entitled to repudiate my contract and do business with another supplier? Can I go to another supplier today who can help me?

m8tey 10/11/2015 at 4:47 am

I am having a dispute with a catalogue company and it quotes in their terms and conditions that if either of us can come to an agreement then i am within my rights to take the matter to the financial ombudsman. However I had to ask the catalogue company for the ombudsman's details. I was kept on hold for 22 minutes and was given another phone number for their customer services when I stated this on the phone I was told that it was the right details given. I have all the info regarding the call date, time who I spoke to etc as calls are recorded. Could you please let me know if I am right when I say that they have breached their own contract by not giving me information I was entitled to please... thank you

lollyg 09/11/2015 at 8:00 pm

I signed up to do an access course at my local college for which the fees are £5000. The reason I signed up to the course was because I was satisfied that the colleges facilities and teaching staff were suitable for me. I am now told that two of the course tutors are leaving the college at Christmas. I do not wish to continue with the course because of this. Could this be considered that the college is on breech of contract?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 03/11/2015 at 11:41 am

I'm, afraid we cannot advise personally on your case, as we only answer generalised queries. I suggest taking some independent legal advice, due to the more complex nature of your claim.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 03/11/2015 at 10:50 am

I think you would need to inform your landlord as this is an illegal practice and therefore in your landlord's best interests to know. It also depends on whether you have a joint or separate tenancy agreement, if separate, according to the CAB, if one of the other tenants is causing problems, your landlord may decide to evict them and if this happens, it won't affect your own tenancy. , which I hope will help answer your question.

disgruntled customer 02/11/2015 at 11:39 am

The stress of the problems has been hard to cope with.Being off-grid without the correct power supply we have no heating hot water and most evenings the power goes off at 9pm.
I had hoped to pay others to remedy the faults and then invoice him - having advised him in writing that this was the action I was planned after giving him a time period dying which he could do the work. This would then be addressed via the Small claims court had he failed to pay the invoice. However it is clear that the component parts are not suitable and there are major design problems so regretfully on on October 31st we disconnected the system and have requested a full refund and for him to remove the system from site. Does this mean I have to sue for breach of contract? we would also need reimbursement for the works we carried out and paid for separately for things which once his system is removed will be redundant - we also feel that compensation for the massive inconvenience to our personal and working life would be in order, We would welcome your comments

disgruntled customer 02/11/2015 at 11:31 am

My husband and I entered into a contract with a man for the supply of a 4Kw PV solar system for our off-grid home in UK. The brief contract terms was for the supply of a system which would be on a tracked tower/frame which follows the sun by means of a sensor, has a wind velocity sensor to flatten off when wind velocity reaches a certain level ( to prevent damage to the array) and also flattens off at night to be ready for sunrise. The design specifications were to provide power for a normal home i.e. to provide power for fridge freezer, washing machine, dishwasher, water pump, laptop charging leads, mobile charging leads, lighting and tv. All items using as low a voltage as possible. We have made payment in full at time periods earlier than that stated in the contract plus made payment for some "extras" which we believe should have been included in the design of the system (drawing technical information from DTI Guide to the installation of PV systems) The supplier has installed the system commencing Sept 28th 2015 - albeit 3 weeks later than agreed, we have since experienced severe problems with the system, it has never worked to it's capacity and we have been forced to supplement the power from our old 2Kw system. We have received advice from the equipment manufacturers and qualified electricians that there are major errors in the system design as well as wiring, earthing, isolator switch not installed, cable sizing, battery bank capacity, and possible problems with the inverter - perhaps due to incorrect installation. We have given written feedback to the supplier who initially arranged for electricians to visit site and rectify some of the cabling problems and fit the isolators (which are an essential safety feature) however he cancelled this instruction. We also have followed the Pre-Action protocol of CPR in the hope that the threat of legal action would motivate him to arrange for qualified electricians to carry out the necessary remedial work and for him to provide us with the correct programmed chip to power and manage the solar tracking system, which we believe is called Azimuth Altitude Dual Axis Trackers and Wind Sensors. We have had only one instruction manual regarding one part of the system and despite our repeated requests he has failed to provide us with any clear information on the components supplied and how they are used and maintained. We have managed to locate some manuals via the internet. We have set out our complaint clearly and emailed this to him, he has replied but he has failed to provide a sensible schedule for the remedial work and often does not reply to emails or phone calls. We have answered all the queries he has raised. His behaviour is very emotional - rather like a petulant child. Therefore on October 31st we regrettably came to the decision that we had to disconnect the system. The stress of the problems has been hard to cope with. Being off-grid without the correct power supply we have no h

Student123 02/11/2015 at 2:28 am

Hi I'm a student living in a shared house, last week I caught half my house mate smoking legal substance inside the house. I don't agree with drug taking and decides to leave the house because when I asked them to stop they stated they paid the rent just the same as me and could do as the choose. Therefor I choose to leave the house but my contact still stands, fixed term contract. I have not informed the land lord as to why I have left, would this breach my contract could I get the contract void? If I inform the landlord as to why and present him with the evidence I have?

guyzy1982 29/10/2015 at 7:40 pm

My employer carried out a restructure of 2 roles into 1, they informed me that I could retain my t's and c's. 1 month into the role (after being successful through interview) they informed me that if I wanted to continue they would take approximately 5 grand from me. I refused this role (informing them I could not afford the pay cut) I was given a different job (no detriment to my pay), could this be a breach? Although I am not losing pay, I am being forced out of my role even though I was initially doing the new job for a month. Cheers

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 29/10/2015 at 10:23 am

If you can't get the job put right or a refund from the company directly, you could try taking it to the Small Claims Court.

Unhappy 28/10/2015 at 5:53 am

Can you help. I had some windows installed 14 months ago with the understanding the job would be finished the following day......To this day still we are waiting. We have had a number of appointments which they have failed to attend, finally few weeks ago they came. Report made that the whole entire installation was bad...fixture and fittings etc. Where do I stand.

Annoyed and harrasse 23/10/2015 at 3:58 pm

I worked for a company who fired me on false grounds rather than fight for wrongful dismissal I decided to become self employed within my industry, the company I worked for previous had a clause in their contract stating "I can not directly or indirectly canvass or solicit or accept orders from any person , firm or company who or which during the twelve months immediately preceding my termination date shall have been a customer of the company or annual associated company and with whom or which I had dealings during said twelve month period" as being self employed I was contacted by a business I was aware the company worked with years prior, I was a basic service engineer as my contract states I had no dealings on the said work site in the twelve months prior to being terminated and as only a service engineer would have no idea if they had an on going contract with this company, I was contacted by the business to carry out repairs and work for them and my ex employers are now telling me I'm in breach of contract, as I've carried out work, can this be upheld? I am aware to this point my ex company have no on going contract with the said business where they are solely to carry out repairs all work and repairs for the business in question are handed out on a quote for and except per job condition , where do I stand

Marbles 19/10/2015 at 8:23 pm

"Material Breach"
There is a website where you buy leads of jobs... There are many and I am not going to name this one.
Can anyone confirm whether this scenario is a "Material Breach of Contract" please...
There was an advertised job for purchasing and the job, (EVIDENCE SECURED), was withdrawn straight away with the company. However the company concerned continued to sell the lead knowingly when there was never a job to be purchased. Therefore they let people buy the lead when already being told that there was no job available.
Many thanks

music man 13/10/2015 at 9:13 pm

Hello, i work as a music and use various agents / agencys to find work (gigs)
There is one agent in particular that has left us high and dry with regards to payment for quite a few gigs from as far back as October 2014. We are currently in negations with the Musicians union who are acting as mediation. We agreed to accept a payment of £1000 per month until the debt is cleared (total 8 months!!)
The first 3 payments have been made and now nothing again.
This is due to the agent in question now asking for a percentage of our fee for any repeat bookings from any of the contracts we had with him, for a 12 months after the initial contract.

It is part of the contract agreement that this is the case. However due to his non payment of invoice (30 days to pay stated on every invoice) am i right to think that any contract and its demands / terms are void. as he is in breach?
Please advise.
Thank You

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 09/10/2015 at 2:15 pm

No, the contract will still stand, the fact that the price originally quoted, has been rectified by email which would mean the contract is still intact at the originally discussed £500. If you wish to cancel the contract on the basis that the price quoted was wrong, then you would have to discuss this with the company who may release you from the contract. Under law there are two basic terms that constitute a binding agreement. The verbal agreement will be binding if there was an agreement on the services to be performed and an agreement was reached on remuneration for this service. This agreement can be reached by a verbal exchange in person, via telephone or via an email. There are certain contracts and agreements that must be made in writing and these will include the sale of property, tenancy agreements, copyright transfer, and contracts for consumer credit. In some cases, verbal agreements will not be upheld in court, not because of the lack of a written agreement but because the terms of the verbal agreement were not clarified. I hope this helps.

tidychick 08/10/2015 at 11:32 pm

Hi, can someone please help.
If I'm told hire of a room is £500 minimum bar spend then after I sign I notice it says £700 bar spend then query that and receive an email saying don't worry it is £500 then does this make the contract void?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 07/10/2015 at 2:12 pm

You would have to seek legal advice on this, as it is an international issue.

Adex 06/10/2015 at 11:13 pm

I packaged a bid for a company in United Kingdom via its subsidiary in Nigeria and we agreed on terms of 30 percent of mobilization fee and 70 percent on completion.I finally handed over the bid to them and they company now turn to ask me to wait for my payment till they pass the technical bid which was not part agreement.

What can i do to get a justice and to get my money and compensation.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 25/09/2015 at 1:08 pm

Due to the international aspect, I'm afraid you would have to take professional legal advice regarding this and costs etc.

JHSM3 24/09/2015 at 3:30 pm

My husband invested his savings with a shipping company in May 2011. He has a written agreement in place that states he was a allowed to sell 150,000 shares by June 2014 which would allow him to recoup his capital and gain a return. The director of the company has made endless excuses and keeps on promising a payment date and each time the payment date arrives my husband doesn't receive his money! We need that money and not sure what action to take? The company is based in South Africa and we live in UK. I am not sure if we are even able to take him to court or what legal costs will be? Any advice will be appreciated.

kazg 05/09/2015 at 9:09 pm

my mother taken a hire purchase on an alarm system with ADT. She has a copy of the agreement which she signed and it says she has to pay £24.99 a month. They sent her a letter 4 weeks later saying she has to pay £25 a month. She phoned ADT to ask why has the price changed, and it was not the amount she agreed too! They said it was and she needs to pay the £25 a month. The then gets another letter a few weeks after saying she has to pay £29.99 a month, and ADT included a photo copy of my mothers contract and high lighted the amount of £29.99 in the top right hand copy and it had my mothers signature at the bottom of the form. My mother looked at the same page of her copy, and where it says £29.99 on the photo copy they sent her, on hers that part is blank!
Obviously someone from ADT have tampered with a signed contract after my mother signed it, and also gave her 3 different amounts of monthly payments she has to pay.
Would she be able to cancel her contract with them under them breaching there side of the contract and also tampering with the contract? If she was to cancel, she would have to pay £500+ to them.

asthma attacker 31/08/2015 at 4:51 pm

A website designer took £200 as a deposit to design and host an internet website where subscribers would have paid £10 to join as members. The quote for the job had been £400. I would expect thousands of ill persons to have joined due to the website being one where medical advice is given.
Nearly one year has passed since the deposit was paid and no website or any sign of it has materialised. This means that for nearly one year, I have not made any money from an important website. I therefore feel that there is cause of action for breach of contract.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 28/08/2015 at 10:22 am

If the work has been delivered by the time you suggested in the letter, then he has not breached your terms, so you will really need to pay the money. If you don't he could take you to the small claims court.

grh2404 27/08/2015 at 9:01 am

Sir
My mother recently passed away and the Memorial Mason told m that it would take 4-6 weeks to do the work on a headstone. However, after 7 weeks I was told that it would take at least another 2 weeks. Having contacted Consumer Advice I was told to write him a letter claiming Breach of Contract and to give him a set time to complete the work which I did. He rang me up to tell me the work had been completed in the time scale I had given him in my letter. However, he was rude and verbally abusive to me on the phone but not once did e contest the Breach. Having paid a deposit he now wants the rest of the money but do I have to pay because of the Breach of Contract?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 20/08/2015 at 1:00 pm

If you are not happy with the result of your complaint, I can only suggest you ask about their formal complaints procedure and write a second letter of complaint in order to see whether they may extend their goodwill compensation.

youngy89 19/08/2015 at 2:12 pm

I am on contract with ee they have been giving me 5gb of internet for 4 month instead of 10 they said they will knock £5 off my my bill for 4 month to compensate for the the 5gb less they have been giving me every month I am not happy with this what can I do about them breaking the terms and conditions?

Dan Editor 18/08/2015 at 11:31 am

@Shazie - Regardless of whether it's legal or not, it's not a very ethical approach. You'll have obviously ruined your relationship with your builder for a start, before allowing him to try to correct the situation and get his men back on board. I doubt there will be any legal repercussions, however, there will obviously be a few nightmare practical ones as a result.

Shazie 17/08/2015 at 1:21 pm

I am having a house built by a builder, his blokes are refusing to come back to work for him as they say down to where my house build is is too far. So they left the company this morning.

I then contacted one of the ex-employees to ask if this were true and if they would consider working for us direct.

The builder has then said we are in breach of contract for contacting the ex-employees without his permission.

However, we have not signed any contract stating we can't do this.

Can the builder do this please. Urgent help needed. Thanks

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 27/07/2015 at 11:48 am

@Donna - It is important that there is a clear understanding with the contractor before the work starts on how much and when the payments are due. Payments upfront are not recommended and any contractor with a good established reputation will not ask for payments before the work has commenced. See CAB article here which may help.

Donna 24/07/2015 at 3:50 pm

I got a quote for new windows and agreed to go ahead when he came back to measure again the price increased and he said he would need all money before ordering the windows so I said I would need to speak to my partner. We decided not to go ahead and sent a text to inform him but now he saying he had ordered the windows so I will have to pay for them - is this correct

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 27/07/2015 at 11:40 am

@Dex - I have included a link to the CAB- 'When and Employer Witholds your Pay', here which should answer your question, if not you should ask advice from ACAS via whichI hope this helps.

Dex 24/07/2015 at 3:44 pm

Is an employer allowed to withhold payment due to breach of contract (claiming voiding) and also claim compensation through indemnity cited in the same contract?

Lou 15/07/2015 at 3:31 pm

Hi my contract says notice to expire anytime other than July August , if I make my notice end 1st of sept would this avoid breach of contract ?

ali 10/07/2015 at 9:51 pm

hi we have a holiday with thomson and it doent say in the contract terms that inhalors are banned from their aircraft all it states is we let them know - in effect telling us we cannon fly with them we have also been verbaly told we are no longer welcome to travel but no refund is offered is this a breach?

disdilemma 03/07/2015 at 6:26 pm

Will try to keep this as short as possible. We run our own family business and had to use the services of a very well known courier to transport our specialised equipment off to the manufacturers for a repair. The courier service has been and is always arranged by the manufacturer so we are basically the third party in all of this with the manufacturers/repairers being the account holder. Unfortunately during transit our equipment experienced damage which was alerted to us by the manufacturers/repairers when they received it. I immediately contacted the courier company who initially provided me with a claim form which when it was sent through contained the sort code, bank account and details of their account holder ie the manufacturers/repairers of the company. Our claim was accepted (in our company name), we were then asked to provide a quote for the repairs which we obtained from the manufacturers/repairers (the account holder with the courier), together with photographs showing the damage. This was all accepted and I wasn't always dealing with the same person at the couriers, somewhere between 3 and 4 people and also taking into consideration that I was actually dealing with the claims department. Two to three weeks went by and we hadn't heard anything so I put a chase on the claim to be then told that the courier company were not prepared to discuss the claim with me as we were not the account holders but the third party, despite the fact that they had accepted the claim directly from us and they referred me to their terms and conditions.

I escalated a complaint which was dealt with by their ligitation team as I was and am of the opinion that they have breached their own terms and conditions. When they eventually responded ie following "their full investigation" I was told that our claim had been rejected as the packaging was not available for inspection. I tried to explain that we would not be in receipt of the packaging but the manufacturers but this was just thrown out. I sent a further letter to them stating that they were in breach of their own T&C's as they had accepted the claim from us with supporting documentation but they have dug their heels in and will not discuss with me. When I asked them about why they have dealt with me and not their account holder as per their T&C's they said that an assumption had been made that I was the account holder!!!!

I have since sent a letter to the Chief Exec> His "puppet" has responded to me and said that it has now transpired that there was blanket cover on the claim which was overlooked when the initial claim was submitted and they will be sending the manufacturers (as they are the account holder) a cheque. Unfortunately the costs of the repairs equate to £1200.00 and they have offered the sum of £530.00. I have today notified them that we are looking for full payment of the repairs to the equipment together with any other associated costs involved but so far have heard no

Paul 29/06/2015 at 11:46 pm

I purchased a watch on EBay. I paid promptly via "PayPal"
An hour or two later I received a message from the seller saying they were unwilling to complete the transaction as the delivery address I had given is a hotel (where I am staying temporarily) They sent a refund via PayPal which I did not want!!
Surely, under law, the moment my payment was received the goods became de facto "my property" and the seller had absolutely no right whatsoever to act in this manner?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 29/06/2015 at 11:24 am

@bubu - I'm afraid we can't answer this as we are a UK-based site, so can only advise on UK-based law.

bubu 26/06/2015 at 10:59 am

Entered into a contract with someone. Gave him my car, we agreed every week he will be giving me 1000 zambian kwach in a period of 7months 2weeks. We are agreed he gives me 30,000.00 zambian kwach. Three months down the line gave hime a verbal warning for he was delaying to bring the said amount of 1000. Towards the end of the contract like three months reminded to finish the contract he missed two weeks. I wrote him a termination of contract and we went to the police station and we were advised that looking at the time the guy has been with the car it will be fare I give him chance cause it will be a 5050 situation. They managed to convice me. He was suppose to finsh the contract in february 2015, and now its june 2015 he has not paid me the last installment, first I listrned because he gave an excuse that he had a problem at home and that was in february, now I feel he has taken advantage of me.
Can I grab the car from him or he can just pay me damages? How can I go about all this?

hlc 24/06/2015 at 4:25 pm

Hello, I wonder if you could help me out - I recently had a kitchen fitted but the night before the installation took place I was sent a new invoice increasing the cost by £1000, (on a £9000 kitchen). Apparently these were for changes I had, had made, however it really was to cover costs for remaking units that had been made to the wrong size as a proper survey was not carried out.

Having already paid half the deposit and being without a kitchen I challenged (then thinking that it was resolved) it and let the installation carry on. I have now received a letter from a solicitor demanding the £1000 and threatening court. I have been advised to write back claiming breach of contract but am not sure how I should word the letter - does anyone have a standard template that I could use please for the letter or just the paragrqph that has legal implications?

Thank you

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 11/06/2015 at 11:47 am

@ BenT- I'm afraid we can't be seen to be giving such specific advice, you would really need to seek some professional legal advice over this.

BenT 09/06/2015 at 4:57 pm

We have received a solicitor's letter from an ex supplier (now in liquidation) who is claiming that one of my ex-employees induced one of their employees to breach their contract with the supplier some 5 years ago.

In the apparent interests of the creditors, the liquidators are looking to assign the claims in order to get 'the best price' obtained for them.

The liquidators are looking for offers from potentially interested parties (presume us and the ex-employee?)

Where does this leave us as a company. Where does this leave the ex-employee.

The claims are completely unfounded, but the directors of the company blame their situation on our company namely for moving our business to another supplier, and this appears to be a desperate way of trying to get some payback

Should we responded the letter and imposed deadline of 2 weeks or just ignore the letter and hope that this just blows over. We have not spoken to the ex-employee in regard to this.

Bigjohnl51 01/05/2015 at 1:13 pm

ParkingEye are taking me to court for Breach of Contract. I attended a local cinema and are entitled to 4 hours free parking. I did not register my Car details and they say this a Breach and have charged me £100. As I only stayed for 2 hours this charge seems excessive for an administration error?

Any advice?

Jo Editor 01/05/2015 at 12:12 pm

@Sauce Boss - yes, but before you think of whether you can get your deposit returned, I'd be calling them to speak to them directly to see if they are actually going ahead with the service you have requested.

Sauce Boss 30/04/2015 at 8:11 pm

My fiancé & I have paid a "non refundable" deposit to a wedding company to supply chair covers. As part of the contract they were supposed to invoice us last week & finalise everything. They haven't done this & now we're only 3 weeks away from the wedding.

We're getting worried they're going to let us down. As they failed to invoice us in time have are they in breach of contract & could we rightfully request our deposit back?

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 23/04/2015 at 10:45 am

@Perse - you don't say whether this is a hire car or not. But you may be liable for payment if you have not returned the car (it would be up to you to return it to the place you hired it from). You would not be allowed to keep it and you need to make sure you sort this matter out as soon as possible, or you could get landed with a large bill. You need to also look in the lease terms and conditions and see what it says about non-returns. I hope this helps.

Perse 21/04/2015 at 2:14 pm

I signed contract to have car for 3 weeks. 2nd of March to 23 of March 2015
I still have the car , I have called them number of times even contacted them by email regarding matter . they called me and said they will come for it tomorrow 3rd of April . I still have car looking after it like a baby as I am scared to leave parked alone ( car is a 2015 plate brand new ,
What should I do ?I am worried they will send me a bill I cannot afford , is there a way if car left over a longer period a time can I keep the car

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 03/03/2015 at 10:37 am

@lizzieie - this seems a bit odd for them to pursue this, considering you changed the flights back to the agreed times and days. I don't think they have much of a leg to stand on given you attempted to rectify this immediately. If anyone had suffered from a loss due to the breach it is you. They would have to be able to prove that they had accrued losses, but really they haven't because you took the appropriate steps to remedy the situation within a reasonable time frame and before the work was due to start. I would however, seek some extra legal advice in case there is anything you have not mentioned in your question. Make sure you keep all the correspondence and I would make sure you make known your own losses because of this person's actions. I hope this helps.

lizzieie 27/02/2015 at 5:35 pm

Hi can you advise me on this question if possible.

I offered somebody some work at a daily rate. The dates were agreed and the price via email roughly 2 months before the work was due to begin. I booked a flight for the person to travel to do the work and sent the booking details to the worker. 9 days before the person was due to travel they informed me that I had made a mistake in the booking and booked me for longer than the dates we had agreed for the work. I immediately changed the booking and apologised. The worker said that this was a breach of contract and that they would no longer do the job as I had made that mistake. I asked them to reconsider and they said no. Now they are pursuing me for breach of contract. I am not sure what to do. Can you give any advice. Thank you

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 02/03/2015 at 1:57 pm

@Somebody - what meters? You can't really tamper with the gas and electricity meters as the money goes straight into the gas and electricity companies, so would be of no benefit to your landlords. Besides it is not possible to do as only someone from either of those companies can set the meters. You will have to explain further.

Somebody 27/02/2015 at 5:59 am

Hello. I had a question that I am hoping I am putting in the right place. My friend is living in an apartment, and he just found out that the land owners had tampered with the meters to raise his rent, and is in danger of losing power.When we talked about this, we were both wondering if this was a breach of contract on their part, and if so, could he move out of the apartment without fear of legal action against him?

Hil 24/02/2015 at 9:19 pm

Thank you for your reply. I've spoken to Dignity several times. They are still trying to get the local funeral director to absorb the shortfall in costs. Really rubbish. I've warned them I shall be reporting this to BBC Watchdog. And ive mentioned breach of contract. I'm going to contact their local newspaper in Sutton Coldfield.

Sam Editor 24/02/2015 at 10:28 am

@Hil - sounds pretty shocking. I'm sorry to hear about the death of your mother and what you don't need is added stress on top of this at such an emotional time. Have you looked at the terms and conditions in your mother's plan? As it's worth seeing what it says about changes from nominated funeral directors. Surely at the time the plan was take out the 'nominated' funeral director must have been checked out (hence the word 'nominated'). I know that this is not the route you may want to take, but I would telephone, speak to the person in charge and ask directly about their complaints procedure along with the intimation of a quick call to your local newspaper (given the fact your mother has not yet been buried). This might do the trick in order for them to snap into some kind of action. Or ask for some advice from the CAB. It sounds like pretty unethical behaviour to me. You could also for peace of mind agree to the hike in funeral costs now, but tell the company that you will be taking it through the small claims court in order to see if you can get the additional costs refunded. I think the terms and conditions page is your best bet to start. Anyone else have any opinions?

Hil 21/02/2015 at 6:04 pm

Re my post below, I should have said that the funeral plan company is Dignity, not Destiny. Apologies for the error.

Hil 21/02/2015 at 10:19 am

Hi, I'm currently dealing with my Mum's funeral. Stressful time. She and Dad paid for funeral plans with Destiny also known as Chosen Heritage. The plan stated that their nominated funeral director was their local one, the one they wanted. Now Destiny are saying that this local firm is not one they deal with. They have agreed to do a "one off" arrangement but there is a shortfall of costs between what Destiny is prepared to pay and what the local firm charge. Mum died a week ago and still no funeral date arranged. The local firm told me that this situation has cropped up before with Destiny, and they haven't been able to carry out the funeral as they are not a Destiny funeral company.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 16/02/2015 at 12:03 pm

@Jay - A contract is formed when the person offering the contract makes an offer which is accepted by the other party. A proposal to form that contract can be as simple as an acceptance from the other party, therefore if you have any correspondence regarding his acceptance of the contract and agreeing to the terms may be as good as him signing it. However, I still would seek some further legal advice. The CAB may be able to help.

Jay 13/02/2015 at 3:25 pm

Hi
I run a small plastic card company. I advertised for a software developer to design me some loyalty software which I could sell to my clients and give to my sales agents to sell. I sent a contract to the developer which covered me in all aspects of it not been finished (on time - 10/12/14), confidentiality etc. the usual stuff. The work was nearly completed before Christmas however wasn't, then the developer stopped answering the phone (he's 300 miles away). Finally he did answer the phone on 3/1/15 and apologized, offering not to charge me for the work. Since then I have not been able to get hold of him despite my threat of legal action. I have lost pre orders, credibility & future sales + I am now seeking another developer.

With regards the contract he added his details & emailed it back to me but didn't actually sign it. I want advice on the matter. I was considering sending him a copy of a small claims court I was looking to proceed with.

Paige 28/12/2014 at 1:24 pm

Just a question- I'm at uni and my guide to residences states I'm not allowed a fridge in my room, but no mention of a mini fridge. As they've not specifically said mini, I wouldn't be doing anything wrong by having one, would I?

baz 11/11/2014 at 7:55 pm

Hi, I was offered a job internally and have email proof of job offer was subject to medical which was passed, worked my notice. While on annual leave(last week of notice period and was due to start the following monday) I was called on the Thursday to be advised full time job was no longer available as new franchise holder had to sign off, even though they were not due to take over for another 2 months was then told the job was a 6 month secondment, then had an safety incident at work 2 days prior to starting secondment, which resulted in me being suspend for 2 months and being given a final warning, they are now advertising the full time job again, if I had started the role I would not have had the safety incident, any advice appreciated

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 10/11/2014 at 2:02 pm

@Berger - this sounds a bit of a tricky one to advise on. Could there have been any misunderstanding of the payment agreement? Theoretically, if you resign giving notice, but your employer does not want you to work all or part of your notice, then you are entitled to be paid for the full notice period, provided you are available to work your notice if required. However, this is where the ambiguity lies because if you, when under notice, ask to leave before the period of notice has ended and your boss agrees to this then they only need pay you until your last day. I suggest you give ACAS a call, as you will be able to explain to them in greater detail about the timings etc in order to ascertain who is right . I hope you manage to sort it out.

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 20/10/2014 at 9:55 am

@justin. It is a tricky one, but I imagine you do, especially if the agreement can be proved in any way (if you have any correspondence all the better, even if it is only texts or emails, it will go towards helping you in any future case). I assume you will have bank statements showing that you have paid out for the work too. Have your in-laws agreed to pay the money owed to you on sale of the house? It might be worth discussing this with them first and trying to negotiate a financial return for the work done. If they are refusing, then I suggest you contact a solicitor for advice. Even something like a solicitors' letter might help you get your money back for the work paid out without it having to go to court. I hope this helps.

justin 19/10/2014 at 2:06 am

I was under a verbal agreement with my wife's mother and her sister to purchase a house that they own together my wife's mother agreed to sign over her half and we would purchase the other half from her sister my wife's mother has now told me she is going to sell her have to her sister in the sister tells me I can no longer buy the house meanwhile we moved into the house it was unlivable I did 60,000 dollars worth in home repairs and renovations knowing that I was going to purchase the does anybody think I have legal recourse

dizliz 24/06/2014 at 8:50 am

I signed up to do a divemaster course with my dive club. All went well until a link I sent to my club and others for a trip went belly up. The site to whose link I enclosed stated the price was £45.00 pp. Two of these clubs were based in the South of England and the trip was based in York, so these clubs had to arrange overnight accommodation. When booking they were told it had gone up to £50.00pp 0 not a lot but in the scheme of booking 20 places and overnight accommodation it changed the costings. I was told by my club to apologise to the York vendors for THEIR error on THEIR site. When I said I wouldn't as it was not my error, the club terminated my training part way through and has so far failed to repay any of my money.

mrosas1985 28/04/2013 at 11:49 pm

I had access to a corporate box at the 02 Arena via Greenwich council. I used it to entertain clients, friends and family.

Recently someone who I gave tickets to, went to sell them on, as he could not go anymore I was aboard at the time.

The lady he sold them on to was not happy, and an investigation was done.

I receive a phone call on 8th April from Greenwich Council, informing me about what had happened. I told them I had nothing to do with the selling on of the tickets and I am not responsible for everyone actions and I have also been away as they were well aware of.

Now as a result of this I have lost access to the box all my tickets that I have paid for in advance have been cancelled. I was told verbally I would receive a refund for them, but now I receive a letter being told that I am no longer receiving a refund as I breeched the terms and conditions, yet the same tickets that I have paid for have been sold on to other people.

Please confirm if this practice is right??

I have paid a lot of money in advance for tickets for different events, and now to be told I won’t be receiving them and my money I paid has made me very angry.

From what I was aware, if tickets are cancelled, you automatically receive a refund.

B 23/09/2012 at 12:01 pm

Before taking mortgage with Halifax it was agreed that we would only complete at a date that allowed us to only start payment on the 2 august. Various emails and calls were exchanged with Halifax own advisor agreeing and advising that by closing on 29 June (which was a Friday) the first payment would only take place on 2nd august (plus one day interest). However, having completed on 29 June as advised, we were forced by Halifax to pay the first instalment on 10th July. They now say their advisor gave wrong advice but they refuse to honour it. What are their liability in law?

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