Cancellation of contracts

New Cancellation of Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) regulations came into effect in June 2014.

This means that if you visit a customer and agree the work to be done on that visit, the customer is entitled to a 14 day cooling off period. This law was introduced to protect people from rogue traders and aggressive salesmen.

If you go to the customer's home, measure up and then send them a quote at a later time, the customer has no right to cancel.

If the work is agreed in the customers home but they want the work to start before the end of the cancellation period due to an emergency (for example if they have a leaking pipe), you can ask them to sign a form requesting you to start work before the end of the cooling off period. If the customer subsequently changes their mind and decides to cancel, they will have to pay for work carried out.

Failure to give the correct paperwork may mean that the customer does not have to pay, and is a criminal offence.

Cancellation notice templates

You can use the templates below to produce cancellation notices to give to your customers when work is required to start before the end of the cancellation period:

• cancellation notice for sole trader (DOC, 40.5 KB)
• cancellation notice for partnership (DOC, 38.0 KB)
• cancellation notice for limited company (DOC, 39.5 KB)

For more information or advice, call Trading Standards on 03000 41 20 20 or email trading.standards@kent.gov.uk.