How do you break a company contract?

How do you break a company contract?

My parents bought a flat and hired a small company to carry out some renovation work, but they're not at all happy with it. Delays are piling up and the result is not to their liking. Under what conditions can they terminate the contract with this craftsman and hire another?

Anastasia

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Under Swiss contracting law, as long as the worksite has not been completed (in other words, before the work has been delivered), the client may always withdraw from the contract; however, the consequences vary depending on the reason for terminating the contract.

If a company's customer wishes to terminate its contractual relationship with the company for no particular reason, it can only do so by paying in full for the work performed and compensating the company in full for the premature termination of the contract, in accordance with art. 377 of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO).

If, on the other hand, the termination is due to fault on the part of the contractor, the client may terminate the contract for "just cause" and be released from payment of the fees.

This is the case, for example, under art. 366 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, if the contractor is late even before starting work, if he postpones work contrary to the terms of the contract, or if the delay is such that, according to all forecasts, the work cannot be completed by the agreed date. In such circumstances, however, the client will only be released from payment if he is not at fault. The delay in the works must not therefore be attributable to him.

During the course of the work, when it is possible to foresee with certainty that, through the fault of the contractor, the work will be carried out in a defective manner or contrary to what had been agreed, the client may set the contractor a suitable period of time in which to remedy the problems observed; he must then advise the contractor that if the work is not carried out within the period set, the repairs or the continuation of the work will be entrusted to a third party, at the contractor's expense and risk.

It is up to the client to demonstrate that the conditions of art. 366 of the Swiss Code of Obligations have been met. If this is the case, he may also - depending on the circumstances - make a claim for damages.

However, these mechanisms do not apply to all contracts for work and services, since it is possible to derogate contractually from the aforementioned legal rules. So the first thing to check is the content of the contract your parents have signed, which may be subject to specific provisions, such as the well-known SIA 118 standard.