Your right to cancel building work, and the trap in the 14 day rule
Fourteen days to change your mind, even on work you asked for. Unless you asked for it urgently, and then most of the right is gone.
Building work agreed anywhere other than the trader's own premises usually carries a 14 day right to cancel, including work you invited them to your home to price. The exception that catches people is regulation 28: if you specifically asked for a visit to carry out urgent repairs, that right is largely gone.
The short version
- The right depends on where the contract was made, not on who started the conversation. A quote signed at your kitchen table counts even though you rang and asked them to come.
- Sign at the trader's own office or showroom and there is no statutory right to cancel. Most people assume the opposite.
- Regulation 28 removes the right where you specifically requested a visit for urgent repairs, but leaves it for extra services sold that day.
- If you were never given the cancellation information, the period runs on for a further 12 months.
- Cancel in writing and keep proof of the date. It counts from when you send it, not from when anybody reads it.
Scope
Which building contracts carry a 14 day right, and which do not
The right hangs on where you signed, not on who approached whom. It comes from the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and covers two kinds of contract. An off-premises contract is one concluded in the simultaneous physical presence of trader and consumer somewhere that is not the trader's business premises.
Your kitchen. Your drive. The bonnet of a van. A distance contract is agreed without you ever being in the same room, using only phone, post, email or a website.
Nothing in that asks who made first contact. Ring a firm, book a visit, sign at your own table, and you have an off-premises contract with the full cancellation right attached. Most homeowners think of a cooling off period as a doorstep thing, and so do plenty of small builders.
It runs the other way as well. Sign that same contract at the trader's office or showroom and it is an on-premises contract, with no statutory right to cancel. You are left with whatever the contract allows, which is often nothing, so terms matter more in a showroom than at home. If somebody turned up uninvited and pressed you into signing, that is a different problem, set out in someone knocked and said your roof is dangerous.
One category sits outside the regulations. Regulation 6 excludes contracts for the construction of new buildings, or of substantially new buildings by the conversion of existing ones. A re-roof, a repoint or a render is none of those, so ordinary roofing work is inside and a new dwelling is outside. A large extension can be arguable, and it turns on what is being built, not the word at the top of the quote.
The clock
When the 14 days starts, and when it runs for a year instead
For a service contract the cancellation period ends at the end of 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into. Citizens Advice puts it plainly: the clock starts the day after you give the go-ahead. Agree it on the 1st and you have until the end of the 15th, weekends and bank holidays included.
The trader's side of it is more demanding than most homeowners realise. Regulation 10 says that before you are bound by an off-premises contract they must give you the Schedule 2 information clearly and, where a right to cancel exists, a cancellation form as set out in part B of Schedule 3, on paper or another durable medium. It is a form you are meant to be handed, not a line somebody mentions on the way to the van.
If that never happened, you are probably not out of time. Regulation 31 extends the period. Supplied late but within 12 months of the first day of the original 14, it ends 14 days after you receive it. Never supplied, it ends 12 months after the day it would otherwise have ended. A contract signed last spring can still be live this spring.
The trap
Regulation 28, and the difference between a leak and a re-roof
All of that falls away if you asked for the visit because something urgent needed repairing. Regulation 28 disapplies those rights for contracts where the consumer has specifically requested a visit from the trader for the purpose of carrying out urgent repairs or maintenance. Every page telling you flatly that you have 14 days on building work is wrong for the reader who rang somebody out.
Two visits, both invited, same house. Water is coming through the landing ceiling on a wet Tuesday, you ring the first number you find, ask for somebody today, and they come and stop it. That is a visit specifically requested for an urgent repair, and there is no cancellation right over it. Or you have thought about the roof for two years, booked three firms in, and signed for a re-roof at the kitchen table on the Saturday. Nothing urgent was requested and nothing was repaired, so the full 14 days applies.
The difference is not the size of the job or the bill, but whether the visit you asked for was for urgent repairs. Storm work sits on that line, so watch what you agree after a gale, and who is responsible for storm damage is the other half of it.
The exclusion is narrower than it looks, and the narrow part is the useful part. It does not stop the rights applying to services in addition to the urgent repairs requested, or to goods other than replacement parts used in the repair, supplied on that visit. One call-out can produce two contracts with two answers: the emergency repair you cannot cancel, and the re-roof priced while they were up there, which you can.
| How it was agreed | What it is | 14 day right? | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| You asked a trader to your home to price work, and signed there | Off-premises | Yes, in full | Regulations 5 and 29 |
| Somebody knocked uninvited and you signed on the doorstep | Off-premises | Yes, in full | Regulations 5 and 29 |
| You rang for an urgent repair visit and agreed the repair on the spot | Off-premises | Not for that repair. Yes for extra services and non-replacement goods sold on the same visit | Regulation 28 |
| Agreed by phone, email or website, nobody met | Distance | Yes, in full | Regulations 5 and 29 |
| You signed at the trader's office or showroom | On-premises | No statutory right, only what the contract gives you | Regulation 5 |
| A new house, or a conversion making a substantially new building | Outside the regulations | No, they do not apply | Regulation 6 |
There is also no right to cancel over goods made to your specifications or clearly personalised. That catches a rooflight cut to your rafter spacing, not standard tiles or slates.
Starting early
If the work has already started and you then cancel
Work is not supposed to begin inside the cancellation period unless you asked for it to. Regulation 36 says the trader must not begin supplying the service before the period ends unless the consumer has made an express request and, for an off-premises contract, has made it on a durable medium. That means paper or email, or something else you can keep unchanged. A nod across the drive is not one.
Where work was properly started on that basis and you then cancel, you pay a proportionate amount for what was done up to the moment you told them, worked out on the total price agreed, or on market value if that total was excessive. Nobody expects a builder to strike a scaffold and swallow two days of labour because somebody changed their mind.
You bear no cost at all, in full or in part, if the trader failed to give you the cancellation information, or if the work was not started in response to a proper request. Not a reduced sum. Nothing. There is a limit the other way. Once a service has been fully performed after a proper request, and you acknowledged you would lose the right on full performance, it is gone.
Before you discuss a figure, read what is reasonable to be asked for up front and whether a builder can charge more than the quote.
The offence
Missing the notice is an offence, and usually it is disorganisation
Failing to give the cancellation notice is a criminal offence, which is stronger than most guidance admits. Regulation 19 makes a trader guilty of an offence if they enter into an off-premises contract to which regulation 10 applies and fail to give the consumer the information listed in paragraphs (l), (m) or (n) of Schedule 2.
Anybody guilty of it is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale. A criminal offence, not a point of good practice.
Now the part a firm in this trade ought to say out loud. Most builders who fail to hand over a cancellation notice are not running anything. They are a two-van outfit with a quote template put together years ago, and nobody has told them Schedule 3 contains a form. The regulations catch the disorganised and the dishonest in the same words.
That cuts both ways for you. Do not assume the person in your kitchen is crooked, because the odds are against it. Do not let that stop you raising it either, since the consequences under regulations 31 and 36 follow from the failure, not the motive. A straight builder will sort the paperwork the afternoon you ask.
Cancelling
How to cancel so that it actually counts
Put it in writing and keep proof of the date you sent it. Regulation 32 lets you use a form following the model cancellation form in part B of Schedule 3, or make any other clear statement of your decision. An email saying you are cancelling is a clear statement, and you never have to give a reason.
Two details there decide most arguments. A cancellation sent before the period ends counts as made in time, so the date you sent it is what matters, not the date anybody opened it. And in a dispute it is for the consumer to show the contract was cancelled inside the period. An email can be produced months later. A phone call cannot.
Say who you are, the address, what the work was, the date you agreed it, and that you are cancelling under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Keep a copy and keep the original quote. What a quote should have on it is worth reading before you sign the next one.
Citizens Advice has guidance on cancelling building or decorating work, and its consumer helpline is 0808 223 1133, free from landlines and mobiles. One thing readers get wrong: you cannot report a trader to Trading Standards yourself. Citizens Advice takes the report and passes it on.
This page explains what the regulations say. It is not legal advice. If money has changed hands or the argument is live, ring the helpline before you write anything.
Next steps
What to do next
To use the 14 day right to cancel, work out where the contract was agreed, whether you asked for an urgent repair, and whether you were given a cancellation notice. Then cancel in writing and keep proof of when you sent it.
- Work out where you were when it was agreed. Home, doorstep or entirely at a distance means the right applies. Their premises means it does not.
- Ask whether you requested that visit for an urgent repair. If you did, regulation 28 takes the right away from the repair, but not from anything extra sold that day.
- Look through what you were handed for a cancellation form or written notice. If there is none, the period will not run out for a year.
- If you are cancelling, send it in writing today and keep proof of when you sent it.
- If work has started, photograph and date it before anybody returns.
- Ring 0808 223 1133 if money is in dispute, if nobody gave you a cancellation notice, or if a trader denies the 14 days.
Then start again, with more than one written price in front of you. Why two quotes for the same roof land so far apart explains what you are comparing. If you want the work looked at and put in writing, Thomas comes out himself and sets out what he found and what it would take to put right. The site visit and the written itemised quote are both free, and you can ask for one without agreeing anything on the day.
Questions
Common questions
I asked a builder to come to my house and quote. Can I still cancel?
Yes. A contract concluded in your home is an off-premises contract under regulation 5 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 whether or not you invited the trader, so the 14 day right applies in full. Who made first contact makes no difference to it.
Is there a cooling off period if I signed at the builder's office?
No statutory one: a contract concluded at the trader's business premises is an on-premises contract and the cancellation rights in the regulations do not apply to it. Whatever the contract itself says about cancelling is all you have, so read the terms before you sign.
Does the 14 day right apply to an extension or a new build?
Regulation 6 says the regulations do not apply to contracts for the construction of new buildings, or substantially new buildings created by converting existing ones. A re-roof, a repoint or a render is not that. A large extension can be arguable and it turns on what is actually being built.
The builder has already started. Do I have to pay if I cancel?
Only in proportion, and only if you expressly requested an early start on a durable medium such as an email. Under regulation 36 you pay for what was done up to the moment you cancelled. If the trader never gave you the cancellation information, you bear no cost at all.
How should I send a cancellation so that it counts?
In writing, using the model cancellation form or any clear statement of your decision. A cancellation sent before the period ends counts as made in time, but in a dispute it is for you to show that, so send it by email or text and keep proof of the date.
Read next
Related advice
The guides below pick up where this one leaves off, and the roofing page covers the work itself and the places we cover, if you would rather have the job looked at.
Who wrote this
Thomas Hannen
Thomas owns Bournemouth Roofing & Building and prices every job himself instead of sending somebody else. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, number 15471719, registered in England and Wales. If you want to talk something through before you commit to anything, the site visit and the written itemised quote are both free.
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Thomas comes out himself, looks at the work properly and puts down what he found and what it would take to put right. Nothing is agreed on the day, and the site visit and the written itemised quote are both free.