Breach of Contract Notice

This Breach of Contact Notice, also known as a Notice of Breach, is a document which can be used to set out a formal notice or warning that a legal contract in England and Wales has been breached (in other words that the contract has not been complied with) and to request that the breach is remedied (put right).

A contract is a legally binding agreement which exists between at least two parties.

Contracts can exist in a number of situations. For example, the following situations will often involve the existence of a legal contract:-

• An agreement between an employer and an employee;
• An agreement between a buyer and seller during a property purchase;
• An agreement between a landlord and a tenant;
• Buying and selling services or goods.

A breach of contract means that a party has failed to comply with the terms of the agreement. This could arise on one of the following situations, for example:-

• Where a party to the agreement has failed to provide services or goods to a sufficient standard;
• Where a party has failed to deliver a service on time or whatsoever;
• Where a party has carried out defective work;
• Where a party has failed to pay for goods or services within the required period of time.

Where a contract has been breached, the innocent party can use a Notice of Breach in order to formally notify the other party that they are in breach of the agreement and to request that the breach is remedied.

How to Use This Document

This document should be completed and filled out to reflect the details of the breach of contract. The details should be carefully checked against the contract to ensure that the information is accurate. In particular, the Notice of Breach should be marked for the attention of the appropriate person. This is especially important as there may be a specific provision in the contract regarding the details of an individual who should be notified of any breach. It is also important to check whether the contract stipulates that documents (including Notice of Breaches) must be sent in a particular way, for example by First Class Post.

For breaches relating to late payments of business debts, the Notice of Breach can be sent together with a Letter Demanding Late Payment of a Debt (which sets out the full details of the request for payment prior to the instigation of legal action). In contract, the Notice of Breach is used to formally notify the party that they have breached their contractual obligations.

Once completed, the document can be sent via the chosen or appropriate method. A deadline is given within the notice for the remedy.

Should attempts to resolve matters fail, the innocent party (the person sending the Notice of Breach) will need to consider seeking advice. In particular, advice could be sought about whether the contract can then be lawfully terminated and/or whether action in a Civil Court may be necessary to resolve matters. In those circumstances, the Civil Pre-Action Protocol should be followed, which may include sending a Letter Before Action.

Applicable Law

This Notice of Breach is to be used as a general notice to warn a party in breach of a contract that they have failed to comply with the terms of the agreement, and to request that the breach is remedied (put right).

The law applicable to a specific contract will largely depend upon the nature of that contract. For example for contracts which relate to the provision of sales and goods, many elements of those types of agreements will be governed by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the previous Supply of of Goods and Services Act 1982 (in additional to the general principles of contract law). For business debts, much of the applicable law can be found in the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2013 (in additional to the general principles of contract law).

It is useful to that, generally, for most contracts a court claim for a breach has a time limitation of six years from the date of the breach (s.5 of the Limitation Act 1980). This means that any claim should be brought before the expiry of that period.

Help from a lawyer

You can choose to consult a lawyer if you need help.

The lawyer can answer your questions or help you through the process. You will be offered this option when you complete the document.

How to modify the template

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.