The 14-day cancellation rule every UK tradesperson should know

This is general information about UK rules, checked on the date above. It is not legal advice, and rules change. For a decision that matters, check the sources below or ask a qualified adviser.

A decorator visits a home, agrees the price at the kitchen table and starts the following week. It is an everyday scene, and it is exactly the kind of sale covered by the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. If the paperwork is missing, the customer may be able to cancel long after the job has started, and the trader may have committed an offence.

The short version

• A contract agreed in person away from your business premises is usually an “off-premises contract”.¹
• For a service, the consumer normally has 14 days after the contract is made to cancel.²
• If you do not tell them about this right, the period can be extended by up to 12 months.³
• Failing to give the required notice is a criminal offence.⁴

When the rules apply

The regulations define an off-premises contract as, among other things:¹

• a contract concluded with the trader and consumer physically together, somewhere that is not the trader’s business premises
• a contract where the consumer made an offer while physically with the trader, somewhere that is not the trader’s business premises
• a contract concluded at the trader’s premises or by any distance means, immediately after the consumer was personally addressed away from those premises with the trader present

That last one catches many people. Agreeing the job by email or phone just after leaving the customer’s house may still count.

These rules protect consumers rather than business customers. They also do not cover every contract. For example, the Part dealing with these rights does not apply to off-premises contracts where the consumer pays no more than £42.⁵ Contracts for constructing new buildings, or substantially new buildings by converting existing ones, are excluded too.⁶

What you must do

Before the consumer is bound by an off-premises contract, you must give them the required information in a clear and comprehensible manner.⁷ This includes information on the right to cancel. The regulations set out what this covers in Schedule 2, so check the detail when preparing your paperwork.

What happens if you do not

The consequences are serious in two separate ways.

The cancellation period gets longer. If you give the right-to-cancel information late, within the following 12 months, the period ends 14 days after the consumer receives it. If you never give it, the period ends 12 months after it would otherwise have ended.³

It can be a criminal offence. A trader is guilty of an offence if they enter into a covered off-premises contract but fail to give the required information on cancellation. The penalty on conviction is a fine.⁴

Starting work within the 14 days

Customers often want you to start straight away, but you cannot simply begin. You must not start supplying a service before the cancellation period ends unless the consumer has made an express request. For an off-premises contract, that request must be made on a durable medium.⁸ Our understanding is that a paper form or an email would normally serve, while a verbal “yes, go ahead” would not.

If a job is fully performed, the consumer stops having the right to cancel, provided work began after their express request, and with their acknowledgement that they would lose the right once the work was finished.⁸ If they cancel part way through, the payment is in proportion to what has been supplied, but you can lose that right to payment if you did not give the required information.⁸

Exceptions worth knowing

The regulations list contracts where the right to cancel does not apply. Two are particularly relevant to trades:⁹

• Urgent repairs. Where the consumer has specifically asked you to visit to carry out urgent repairs or maintenance. This does not cover extra services beyond those requested, or goods other than parts necessarily used.
• Made-to-order goods. Goods made to the consumer’s specifications, or clearly personalised.

Be careful about relying on these. Selling an extra job during an emergency call-out is not covered by the urgent repairs exception.

A simple process that works

This is our practical suggestion, and it fits on one page:

1. Add a cancellation notice to every home-visit quote, with a cancellation form.
2. Record when it was given. A dated, signed copy or an electronic record is your evidence.
3. Ask about timing. If they want you to start within 14 days, get that request in writing, with their acknowledgement.
4. Keep the record with the job. You may need to find it long after the work is finished.

Where software helps

The risk here is rarely a trader refusing to give the notice. It is forgetting, on a busy day, for one job. If your quote system always includes the notice, records when it was sent, and captures the request to start early, this problem mostly goes away.

We can build that into your quick quotes system, using the wording your adviser has approved. You might also want to read whether electronic signatures are valid, since a signed quote is often where this request gets recorded.