Cases - Picardi (t/a Picardi Architects) v Cuniberti & Anor
Record details
- Name
- Picardi (t/a Picardi Architects) v Cuniberti & Anor
- Date
- [2002]; (2003)
- Citation
- EWHC 2913 (TCC); BLR 487; 94 Con 81
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Construction contracts - adjudication - architect's fees - whether adjudication provisions agreed or incorporated - RIBA form of conditions of engagement - Exclusion of private dwelling houses - consumer - Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999
- Summary
-
Picardi, an architect, carried out work for Cuniberti on his dwelling. A draft contract incorporating the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) conditions of engagement (containing adjudication provisions) was discussed, but was never actually signed by Cuniberti.
The parties fell out over Picardi's fees. Picardi initiated adjudication proceedings and a decision was made in his favour. Cuniberti resisted enforcement of the decision. The court held that Cuniberti had deliberately not signed the draft contract, and the payments he had made were based on agreed percentages rather than being referable to terms in the draft contract. There was therefore no contract.
As Parliament had specifically excluded private dwelling houses from the HGCRA, the adjudication provision was an unusual term, which should therefore have been brought to the attention of Cuniberti as a lay party. The adjudication clause would be invalidated by the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations as, unless it was properly explained to the consumer, it could give the appearance of unfairness.