Q: I need to help in canceling Pool Contract after 72hrs expire
I hired a pool contractor in Miami to build a pool and gave 20% down ($10K). In the permitting process, it was discovered that previous owners had enclosed the garage without a permit. The pool permit was rejected. The city of Miami's process to get this fixed takes over two years. I informed the pool company that due to the issues at hand, we would need to cancel the pool contract and put it off for the future. They immediately responded that not only would they keep the 10K, but we also needed to send them another $2.6K as part of their cancelation fee of 25%. The cancelation clause reads, "IF OWNER FAILS OR REFUSES TO PERMIT DELIVERY OF MATERIALS TO WORKSITE, INTERRUPTS OR INTERFERES WITH CONTRACTOR IN THE PERFORMANCE OF CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE DEFAULTS UNDER THIS CONTRACT BEFORE COMPLETION THE CONTRACTOR WILL BE DUE A SUM EQUAL TO 25% OF TOTAL CONTRACT PRICE"
Is there any way I can counter this?
A: This clause does not apply here. This clause reads IF OWNER FAILS OR REFUSES TO PERMIT DELIVERY OF MATERIALS .... INTERRUPTS OR INTERFERES WITH CONTRACTOR ......CONTRACTOR WILL BE DUE A SUM EQUAL TO 25% OF TOTAL CONTRACT PRICE". You did not fail to do anything or refuse to do anything. You are at no fault. It is just the presumption of the contract does not exist, i.e, something unexpected occurred frustrated the purpose of the contract. you are entitled to a refund.
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