Cancelled Wedding

bris

thesmallcheese wrote: »

The contract states that the cautionary deposit is non refundable in the event of cancellation. Seems dodgy to me!

Nothing dodgy about it and the contract is not void.

The contract is still in breach and they are still entitled to their losses. Finding out what they are is the challenge.

frugal_mike

lazer wrote: »

Just remember that even though the venue may not have to pay for staff, costs of food etc, they will also lose out on profit that they would have got from drink sales had the event gone ahead, possibly accommodation costs too, if guests have booked rooms which are able to be cancelled!

They wouldn't be able to claim loss of profit on the drink sales (unless OP had to purchase a fixed amount of drink from them as part of the contract) since it is perfectly possible for OP to honour the contract but still not buy any drinks from the bar. If the rooms are cancelable then it would also be possible for OP to avoid breaching the contract but still cancel the rooms, so no loss there either. Afterall they could honour the booking but just have no one turn up since the wedding didn't go ahead.

unholyangel

thesmallcheese wrote: »

One part of me is inclined to advise them to pay this Reduced amount, but a small part of me thinks that we could claim the contract is null anyway, due to the terms being unfair (ie staying you pay more in the event of cancellation.

Any thoughts?

Thank you! TSC

Unfair terms does not void the contract. It only means that those terms are unenforceable/have no legal standing (or if it is ambiguous and a "fair" meaning can be found, that interpretation would be used/enforceable).

Of course law automatically incorporates itself into any contract - so you would still be liable for their reasonable losses incurred providing they were caused by the breach and are not too remote.