The right to cancel

A man who hired a removal company had a right to cancel the contract under legislation designed to protect consumers against doorstep selling, the Supreme Court has held.

Under the Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/1816), a consumer has a cooling-off period where a contract is made in his or her home. In Robertson v Swift [2014] UKSC 50, Robertson phoned Swift to ask about his removal business. Swift visited Robertson at his home and agreed a price. He then sent Robertson an acceptance document with his standard conditions which included a cancellation clause. Swift visited Robertson’s home a second time to drop off boxes, and collect the signed form and £1,000 deposit. Robertson then phoned, and later wrote to, Swift to cancel the contract. He refused to pay the cancellation charges after noticing that Swift had not correctly notified him of his cancellation rights.

The Supreme Court unanimously held that the 2008 Regulations applied even though there had been two visits to Robertson’s home at his express invitation. Robertson therefore had the right to recover his deposit.

Delivering judgment, Lord Kerr clarified that the cancellation period should be interpreted as meaning: “the period commencing from when the trader is required to give the consumer a written notice of his right to cancel pursuant to reg 7(2) and expiring seven days after the date of receipt by the consumer of a notice of the right to cancel…A failure by a trader to give written notice of the right to cancel does not deprive a consumer of the statutory right to cancel under reg 7(1) of the 2008 Regulations."