Contract changed after signing.

Mickyblueeyes69

I am pretty sure the contract is now void but i wanted to make sure. I was having tarmac on my drive and concrete edging to hold the tarmac I signed a contract for £12000 It is quite a large area over 170 square mtrs but seemed a reasonable price. The contractor then rings me the next day and says he forgot to add on the edging price in the contract and it would be another £3000 for the edging so now £15000 which is not such a reasonable price and therefore have decided not to go ahead with this contractor as i do not like the way this has been done. My question is can he hold me to this contract as he has now upped the price My view is he can only hold me to it if he does the work he said at the original price. Hopefully someone can inform me of where i stand in uk contract law. By the way he did not sign the contract only my signature appears on the contract.

tacpot12

I think that the contract is void - he has admitted that his quotation and contract did not include the edging, and you understood that edging was necessary in order to retain the tarmac, so there was no agreement between you on what the work was to entail. He has incurred no cost of materials because you confirmed the following day that you didn't want to proceed at the higher price.

If you have home insurance, check to see if you have legal expenses cover. If you do, you can get professional legal advice on whether he had hold you to the contract. Just call the Legal Helpline provided by your insurer. 

If you don't have this cover, I would suggest that you pay for professional legal advice, but only if the contractor says that they do want to hold you to the contract. If the contract mentions the edging, and the quote mentions it but the contractor maintains that he didn't price it in, he can only charge £12,000 to do the tarmac and the edging.