Take that away

If less is more, does that mean more is less???

Some say I’m a hard working mum.  Others say I’m a spoiled brat who can’t cook.  Either way we get takeaways often.

The Indian gives us 20% off if the order is over £25.  So it’s actually cheaper to order an extra dish and then throw it away than to order the right amount.

But I hate waste and so try to eat more, end up feeling sick and then won’t order from them for the rest of the week.  The only reason I end up going back is cos they are the fastest and so will at least turn up whilst I’m still awake.

So some discounts and special offers do more harm than good and some terms and conditions aren’t as good as they sound.  Just because it looks like a good deal, or a good provision in a contract, have you really thought through all the consequences?

In a property dispute I’m working on at the moment, a builder had an obligation to provide the purchaser with regular weekly progress reports so that the purchaser could start planning for the move.  The purchaser thought this was a really great clause, and happily accepted it.  Why wouldn’t you?  However, in reality, the reports were never produced, and the building ended up being ready before the purchaser was and he very nearly lost his deposit because he didn’t have the funding ready to complete.  He argued that it was the builder’s fault for not giving the reports as per the agreement – and was initially very happy that this clause had been included.  However, he’d never chased for the reports, or complained about the lack of reports, or had his solicitors say anything about the reports not being important and just being for information purposes only.  As a result, this rather innocent looking clause nearly cost the client a lot of money, because his failure to enforce it was used as evidence that he wasn’t actually really worried about the timetable.

So the moral of this story is it’s important to read through all of the contract, understand all the advantages and pitfalls and hopefully get some help to think through all the consequences not just at the outset, but throughout the course of the agreement.

Kleyman & Co Solicitors.  The full service law firm.  Fast delivery of good legal advice.