Before making any amendments to standard documents, great care and consideration should be given to what it is you are trying to achieve. This point was strikingly made by the Court of Appeal in a case concerning a £121 million hotel development.
The relevant contract here was a standard Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) form which had been amended in relation to the stage payments due from the developer to the contractor as work progressed. An email which included a timed schedule in respect of 23 payments formed part of the contract.
Final completion of the project was delayed by
over a year and by that time the 23rd stage payment had been requested and made. The contractor sought a 24th stage payment, but the developer refused to pay on the basis that it was under no contractual obligation to do so. The contractor’s bid to enforce payment of the relevant sum was rejected by a judge.
In dismissing the contractor’s appeal, the Court found that, on a true construction of the amended contract, there was no obligation to make the 24th payment, nor could such an obligation be implied. The schedule of stage payments constituted a complete record of what had been agreed and arguments that further payments accorded with commercial common sense could not avail the contractor.
Please contact Roy Colaba on 0121 698 2200 email, r.colaba@sydneymitchell.co.uk or complete our online enquiry form.
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