When building work on a home is badly done, the first legal question is what the builder promised. Part of the answer is in the quote or contract. The rest comes from the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which adds terms to every contract between a trader and a consumer and sets out remedies when they are broken. This guide explains them for homeowners in England and Wales, and notes the different rules for business customers.
Who counts as a consumer and a trader
A trader is a person acting for purposes relating to their trade, business, craft or profession. A consumer is an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession (section 2). If a trader says that an individual was not acting as a consumer, the trader must prove it.
The contract does not have to be in writing: the Act applies 'whether the contract is written or oral or implied from the parties' conduct' (section 1(2)). The official Explanatory Notes to the Act add that a trader who uses a subcontractor is still bound by these rules for the subcontractor's work.
Most building jobs are a mixed contract: the builder supplies a service (the work) and goods (materials, and items such as windows or kitchen units). Chapter 4 of Part 1 applies to the service and Chapter 2 to the goods, and both can apply to one contract (section 1).
The four terms the Act adds to the work
- Reasonable care and skill (section 49). The trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill.
- Information is binding (section 50). Anything said or written to the consumer, by or on behalf of the trader, about the trader or the service is a term of the contract if the consumer took it into account when deciding to enter into the contract. It is read subject to anything the trader said on the same occasion to qualify it.
- Reasonable price (section 51). Where the contract does not fix a price or say how it is to be fixed, the consumer must pay a reasonable price, and no more. See quotes, estimates and extras.
- Reasonable time (section 52). Where the contract does not fix the time for the work or say how it is to be fixed, the trader must perform it within a reasonable time.
What reasonable care and skill means
The Act does not define the phrase. The Explanatory Notes say the term 'focuses on the way a service has been carried out, rather than the end result of the service', that industry standards and codes of practice are generally accepted as relevant, and that the price paid can be a factor: a lower standard might be expected of 'a quick and cheap repair service' than of a more expensive and thorough one.
Section 49 is therefore a promise about how the job is done. A promise of a particular outcome, such as work built to a drawing or finished to a stated specification, is enforced through the express terms of the contract and through section 50.
For how the standard of work is proved, see evidence in a builder dispute.
The statutory remedies
Section 54 matches remedies to terms. Where the work was not done with reasonable care and skill, or does not match information given about the service, the remedies are repeat performance and then a price reduction. Where the work was not done within a reasonable time, the statutory remedy is a price reduction. The same is true where the broken term is information about the trader, as opposed to the service (section 54(4)).
Repeat performance (section 55) is the right to require the trader to perform the service again, to the extent necessary to bring it into line with the contract. The trader must do so within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience to the consumer, and must bear the necessary costs, including labour and materials. The right is not available where that is impossible.
Price reduction (section 56) is the right to require the trader to reduce the price by an appropriate amount, with a refund of anything already paid above the reduced amount. Where appropriate, the reduction may be the full price. A consumer who has both rights is entitled to a price reduction only if repeat performance is impossible, or the consumer has required it and the trader has not done it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience. A refund must be given without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days beginning with the day on which the trader agrees that the consumer is entitled to it.
The limits of those remedies, and damages
Both statutory remedies look to the original trader. Neither is a right to bring in a second builder at the first builder's expense. That is a claim for damages, the ordinary remedy for breach of contract, covered in the cost of putting bad building work right.
Section 54 keeps those other remedies open. A consumer may seek them 'instead of or in addition to' the statutory remedies, 'but not so as to recover twice for the same loss'. They include claiming damages, relying on the breach against a claim by the trader under the contract, and exercising a right to treat the contract as at an end. See withholding payment or ending the contract with a builder.
Materials and fitted goods
Goods supplied under the contract must be of satisfactory quality (section 9), reasonably fit for any particular purpose the consumer made known to the trader before the contract was made (section 10), and as described (section 11). Two further points:
- Incorrect installation. Where installation forms part of the contract and the goods are installed incorrectly by the trader, or under the trader's responsibility, the goods are treated as not conforming to the contract (section 15). The remedies are repair or replacement, and then a price reduction or the final right to reject (section 19(4)). The 30-day short-term right to reject is not available for incorrect installation.
- Materials the consumer supplied. A failure that has its origin in materials supplied by the consumer is not treated as a failure to conform to the contract (section 19(2)).
Terms that try to exclude these rights
A term is not binding on a consumer to the extent that it would exclude the trader's liability under section 49 or section 50. Nor is a term binding to the extent that it would restrict liability under sections 49 to 52 so as to prevent the consumer, in an appropriate case, from recovering the price paid (section 57). A term that limits liability less severely is still subject to the fairness test in Part 2 of the Act (section 62).
If the customer is a business
Where the customer is a company, or an individual having work done mainly for business purposes, the 2015 Act does not apply. The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 applies instead. Where the supplier is acting in the course of a business, it implies a term that the service will be carried out with reasonable care and skill (section 13) and, where no time is fixed, within a reasonable time (section 14). Where the price is not determined by the contract, the customer must pay a reasonable charge (section 15).
Two differences matter. The 1982 Act terms can be negatived or varied by express agreement, subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (section 16). And the part of the 1982 Act that deals with services contains no equivalent of repeat performance or price reduction.
What a solicitor will want from you
- The quote, estimate or contract, any terms and conditions, and any messages or adverts in which the builder described the work or the business.
- Dated photographs of the defects and a list of what is wrong.
- What was paid, when and how, and what is still unpaid.
- A record of each request for the builder to return and what happened.
- Which materials the customer supplied, and when the builder's goods were delivered and installed.
This guide is general information about the law of England and Wales. It is not legal advice. Which terms and remedies apply depends on what was agreed and how the work was done, and a claim founded on a simple contract must generally be brought within six years of the date on which the cause of action accrued.
Frequently asked
Does the Consumer Rights Act apply to building work on my home?
It applies where a trader supplies a service to a consumer, meaning an individual acting wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession. The contract can be written, oral or implied from conduct. Where the builder supplies both labour and materials, the Act's rules on services and its rules on goods can both apply.
Can I make the builder come back and put the work right?
Where work was not done with reasonable care and skill, the Act gives a consumer the right to require repeat performance. The trader must redo the work so far as necessary, within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience to the consumer and at the trader's own cost. If that is impossible, or the trader does not do it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience, the consumer has the right to a price reduction instead.
The builder's terms say they are not liable for defects. Is that binding?
Against a consumer, a term is not binding to the extent that it would exclude the trader's liability for failing to use reasonable care and skill. A term is also not binding to the extent that it would restrict that liability so far that the consumer could not recover the price paid. Terms that limit liability less severely are still subject to the Act's fairness test.
What if the work was done for my business?
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 does not apply, but the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 implies similar terms about reasonable care and skill, reasonable time and a reasonable charge. Unlike the consumer terms, those can be varied or excluded by the contract, subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. The 1982 Act has no equivalent of repeat performance or price reduction for services.