Would I be covered by Section 75?

recycling

eddddy wrote: »

The OP's worry is that the window firm might get paid twice, then go bust before refunding the OP's payment.

Or go bust after I've paid them but before the grant is paid. Grant gets paid to receivers and I'm in a queue of creditors.

recycling

unforeseen wrote: »

But the OP is expecting the CC to cover under S75 if the company don't refund which I don't think they will do as the service has been provided, The grant is a secondary issue outside the remit of S75

Suppose that I buy a TV for £150 on a credit card. The manufacturer has a cashback deal whereby £30 is returned to the customer via the retailer after six months. At the point of sale the retailer promises to pass this on to me if and only if they receive it from the manufacturer. If they fail to do so would I not have a S75 claim for breach of contract?

unforeseen

recycling wrote: »

Suppose that I buy a TV for £150 on a credit card. The manufacturer has a cashback deal whereby £30 is returned to the customer via the retailer after six months. At the point of sale the retailer promises to pass this on to me if and only if they receive it from the manufacturer. If they fail to do so would I not have a S75 claim for breach of contract?

All you have done there is taken your original question, substituted TV for windows and cashback for grant. So no change to what I believe.

The contract to pass on the cashback/grant is totally seperate to the purchase. As I said, you may have a claim through MCOL against the retailer if you can evidence that you have an agreement

recycling

unforeseen wrote: »

The contract to pass on the cashback/grant is totally seperate to the purchase.

I guess that's the key issue. If at the point of contracting for the supply of the windows both parties agree (preferably in writing and in the same document) that the grant will be repaid if and when it's received, is there one contract or two? I'd have thought one.

unforeseen

The TV example might be different as it is part of the package so S75 MIGHT be successful
The grant is a totally separate thing. You will need to somehow talk the window company into first of all writing a non-standard (for them) contract and then convincing the cc company in the event of a claim. They have no interest in the grant side of things. They want £x for Y windows fitted, they don't care who pays and will take the easiest payment option (you and your cc). They aren't really going to be interested in setting up a secondary non standard contract to pay you the grant.

There may well be a condition of the grant for the installer that they must return it if it doesn't get used for its intended purpose, which in this case, it won't as the windows have already been paid for.

One of the basic requirements is

The main thing that you must remember is that the renovation grant will not be awarded for any work that has already been started on a property, so make this your first stop!

So it must be grant AWARDED first then work

recycling

unforeseen wrote: »

You will need to somehow talk the window company into first of all writing a non-standard (for them) contract and then convincing the cc company in the event of a claim.

They have no interest in the grant side of things. They want £x for Y windows fitted, they don't care who pays and will take the easiest payment option (you and your cc). They aren't really going to be interested in setting up a secondary non standard contract to pay you the grant.

A non standard contract would only require one sentence added to the standard contract "the company agrees to repay the Empty Property Grant to Mr recycling immediately upon receiving it from Borsetshire Council". One company's salesman has suggested that they would though he has to run it past his boss tomorrow. It was also his suggestion that S75 might protect me if they went bust.

In common sense terms - though I appreciate that common sense and the law aren't always the same thing - failure to repay me the grant would amount to charging more than the agreed price, which sounds to me like a breach of the purchase contract.

There may well be a condition of the grant for the installer that they must return it if it doesn't get used for its intended purpose, which in this case, it won't as the windows have already been paid for.

There's nothing to that effect in the "notes for contractor"

it must be grant AWARDED first then work

Grant has to be agreed before work commences, but it only becomes payable, and only direct to the contractor, if and when the property is reoccupied, which has to be within six months, and if any other work which may be required by the council has also been carried out. (Terms may vary from one council to another).

eddddy

unforeseen wrote: »

But the OP is expecting the CC to cover under S75 if the company don't refund which I don't think they will do as the service has been provided, The grant is a secondary issue outside the remit of S75

In legal terms, s75 isn't concerned about whether a service has been provided or not.

S75 is specifically concerned with whether there has been a breach of contract or misrepresentation.

If the window co contractually agrees to refund the OP in certain circumstances - then doesn't refund, that's a breach of contract.