Legal Case Study: Sara's Conservatory Contract with Paul

Due to COVID19 restrictions on social gatherings imposed by the Government, Sara became worried that she may not be able to host her entire family and friends for Christmas due to the size of her house. She decided to have a conservatory built at her house to provide extra space for her guests on Christmas day. She saw one in her local newspaper advertised by Paul for £20,000. Sara called Paul and asked: “Would you accept £18,000 and would the price include installation?” Paul replied by saying: “It is yours for £20,000 including installation.” Paul was paid £10,000 as deposit on 20^th November and the balance to be paid upon completion by 20^th December.

The following week, Paul started on the work but soon fell behind schedule due to a lot of rock and stone in the ground. When Sara asks about progress, Paul informs her that due to hard rock and stones, laying the foundation for the conservatory is very difficult without using a mini-digger. He asks Sara for extra £5000 to hire a mini-digger as he did not have one. Worried that she may not be able to host her family and friends at Christmas if the conservatory is not completed on time, Sara reluctantly agreed to pay Paul the extra £5000 provided he completes the work on time.

Paul hired the mini-digger from Mini-Diggers Ltd for £5000 for 1 week, worked longer hours, and completed the work on time, by 20^th December. When Paul asks Sara for the balance of £10,000 and the £5,000 for the mini-digger hire, Sara tells him that she will only pay the balance of £10,000 as that was the originally agreed price for the whole job and that he did nothing more than he was originally contracted to do.

Mini-Diggers Ltd has sent Paul the invoice of £5000 for mini-digger hire but Paul has refused to pay saying that it is Sara who ordered him to hire the mini-digger, so she should pay.

(i) Advise Paul whether Sara is in breach of contract and whether he can enforce the promise of the extra £5000

(ii) Advise Paul and Sara on who is liable for the £5000 contract with Mini-Diggers Ltd.

Coursework Instruction

The coursework must be a maximum of 1500 words and typed in 12 point font and submitted in a Word document. A bibliography should be included at the end of the coursework. Cases must be cited correctly, but the full citation may be contained in footnotes. Please note that work which is not properly referenced will not achieve a good grade. Word count must be recorded. You must fully attribute any judicial quotations or passages taken from articles or textbooks. Failure to do so may result in your work being referred to the Academic Registry for plagiarism.

Submission of coursework

Coursework must be submitted by Thursday 14 January 2021 by 4 p.m. (local time) electronically on Turnitin via the module site on MyUnihub, where it will be checked for possible plagiarism, collusion and word counts using the appropriate software. Failure to submit on Turnitin will result in the award of 0%. The work must be submitted without the title and without setting out the question in order for the word count to be checked. Please remember to state your word count excluding the title, question, footnotes and bibliography. The bibliography is to be submitted with your answer.  Please do not submit hard copies in this module – submit only on Turnitin.

The deadline is fixed and missing the deadline will result in the award of 0%. Extensions cannot be granted. Where you can demonstrate a good reason to defer, you may apply for a deferral. If you are granted a deferral, you must take the new assessment at the next opportunity.

You must take care to upload your final answer by the deadline as once the deadline is passed you will not be able to submit another version.  The responsibility for timely submission is yours, and except for proven failures of University systems, reasons for late submission relating to your computer malfunction will not be accepted.

You must retain a copy of your work.

Word Limits

(a) All coursework must state the word count. 

(b) The word count excludes the bibliography and footnotes. Footnotes must contain citations only and not text. Any text contained in the footnotes will not be marked.

(c) All work which exceeds the word limit, fails to state the word count or states the word count incorrectly will be subject to penalties.

(d) Coursework which fails to state the word count or states the word count incorrectly will be penalised by the deduction of 2% from the total marks.

(e) Coursework which exceeds the word limit will be penalised by the deduction from the total marks of 1% for every 2% that the word limit is exceeded.