Can you cancel a roofing contract? The 14-day cooling-off period

The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 cover contracts made away from a trader's business premises. A roofing contract signed in your kitchen after a survey counts, because your home is not the roofer's place of business. You may cancel at any point in the cancellation period, with no reason needed, and for a service that period closes at the end of 14 days after the day the contract is made.

Count from the day after you signed. If you signed on a Monday, the last day to cancel is the Monday fortnight after. Cancelling does not need the roofer's agreement and it does not need a fault on their side. You do not have to explain yourself, and you do not have to wait for the roofer to reply before the notice counts.

The same right covers contracts made at a distance, by phone or online. A contract agreed at the roofer's own premises sits outside it, but roofers who quote and sign at the customer's home fall within it.

A roofer cannot simply begin within your 14 days. For a contract made away from their premises, they may only start in that period if you have asked them to, and the request has to be made on a durable medium, which means in writing, such as a signed note or an email. At JJ Roofing Bognor Regis we start inside the 14 days only on your written request.

There is a catch you should understand. If you have asked for the work to start and then cancel, you may have to pay for what has been done up to that point. And if the work is completed in full within the period, you can forfeit the right to cancel, but only where you were told clearly that this would happen.

The simplest approach, if there is no hurry, is to let the 14 days pass before work begins. A leak that you can make safe in the meantime does not need a roof torn off on day two.

One exclusion matters on a roof. The cooling-off rules leave out a call-out that you asked for yourself, to deal with urgent repairs or urgent maintenance. If you ring a roofer because a storm has ripped off slates and water is coming in, and you ask them to come out and deal with it, that visit sits outside the right.

It is a narrow rule. It covers the urgent repair you asked for, not a new roof that someone persuades you to buy while they are there. If extra work or goods are sold to you during that visit, the cancellation rules still apply to those.

If you are in doubt about whether your job counts as urgent, ask Citizens Advice before you sign, and ask the roofer to record in writing what they were asked to do and why. A clear note protects you and the roofer, and it avoids an argument later about what was agreed.

A trader making an off-premises contract has to give you information about your right to cancel. If they do not, the cancellation period is extended. It then ends up to 12 months after the day it would otherwise have ended. A roofer who leaves it out of the paperwork is giving you longer to change your mind, not less.

That matters for the person who signed in a hurry at the door. Look through whatever you were given. A cancellation form or a clear paragraph about 14 days should be there. If there is none, keep the documents and note the date you signed.

Our answer on doorstep roofers explains why work agreed on the step is the most likely to be regretted, and why you should say no at the door in the first place. It is better to have nothing to cancel.

Tell the roofer clearly that you are cancelling, in writing, and do it within the 14 days. An email or a letter works, and a cancellation form that came with the contract does too. Keep a copy, and the proof of when you sent it. A phone call alone leaves you with nothing to point to.

The trader must reimburse all payments, including any deposit. If money has not come back, write again, quoting the date of your cancellation, and ask for a date. Our answer on paying a roofer a deposit explains how to limit what you hand over in the first place. If the roofer will not respond, our note on how to complain about a roofer shows the next steps.

When you are ready to ask another roofer, the JJ Roofing Bognor Regis home page lists the roofing work we do, and you can request a written quote after a survey.