Cases - A Bell & Son (Paddington) Ltd v CBF Residential Care and Housing Association

Record details

Name
A Bell & Son (Paddington) Ltd v CBF Residential Care and Housing Association
Date
(1990)
Citation
46 B.L.R. 102
Keywords
Liquidated damages - rights to claim liquidated damages lost by not issuing notice - notice to amend date of completion - contract not properly complied with
Summary

In the contract liquidated damages were stated to be £700 per week. The architect issued a certificate when the extended contract completion date was not met and the employer issued a notice. The architect granted further extensions of time and revised the date for completion. No new certificates or notices were issued to reflect this amended date.

The architect issued a final certificate and made a deduction for liquidated damages.

The contractor argued that liquidated damages should not have been deducted as the procedures required by the contract had not been properly complied with. The judge held:

‘Construing clause 24.1 strictly and in accordance with its plain and ordinary meaning, it demands the issue of a certificate when a contractor had not completed by ‘the completion date’ ... I think that when a new completion date is fixed, if the contractor has not completed by it, a certificate to that effect must be issued, and it is irrelevant whether a certificate has been issued in relation to an earlier, now superseded completion date.

Construing clause 24.2.1 in a similar manner to clause 24.1, since the giving of a notice is made subject to the issue of a certificate of non-completion, if the certificate is superseded, then logically the notice should fall with it. ... If a new completion date is fixed, any notice given by the employer before it is at an end.’

In the circumstances, the employer lost the right to deduct liquidated damages.