Can I cancel home fittings bought during a home visit?
If you buy as a consumer during a home visit, an eligible contract normally lets you cancel from agreement until 14 days after receiving the goods, even with installation. Bespoke goods and properly requested early work need separate checks. Keep the paperwork for review with Cambridge China Bridge.
Check whether you are buying as a consumer
These consumer cancellation rights concern individuals buying wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession. Buying fittings for your own home can qualify; buying stock through your company is a different situation. For business orders, check the agreed cancellation provisions using UK seller supply terms.
A contract agreed face to face at your home, away from the trader’s business premises, is an off-premises contract. Inviting the salesperson does not itself change that classification. The information and cancellation provisions exclude off-premises contracts worth £42 or less. Record where agreement happened, who bought the fittings and their intended use.
Get the paperwork before agreeing
Before an eligible home-visit purchase, the seller must provide the required information and, where cancellation rights exist, the standard cancellation form. This must be on paper unless you agree to another durable medium. Check the seller’s identity and address, goods and installation scope, total price or calculation method, delivery arrangements, cancellation instructions and any return or early-service costs.
After agreement, the seller must provide a signed contract copy or confirmation, on paper unless you agree to another durable medium. Ask for an email containing the actual terms and documents. Government guidance says an email is a durable medium, but an embedded link to a website that may change is not.
Use the right cancellation deadline
For an eligible goods sale, including a contract supplying fittings with installation, you can cancel from the moment the contract is entered into. The normal deadline is 14 days after the day you receive the goods. Where goods in an order arrive separately, the deadline normally follows receipt of the last item. A service-only contract normally runs to 14 days after the day of agreement. For separately purchased sourcing or inspection work, see our service cancellation guide.
Missing cancellation information can extend the cancellation period by up to 12 months. Keep the order, delivery records and information actually supplied. Do not assume that the signing date starts the goods deadline, or that installation completion starts a fresh period.
Separate an early start from cancellation
Installation during the cancellation period requires your express request; for an off-premises contract, that request must be on a durable medium. If you cancel after a compliant request, payment for services supplied is proportionate to the work delivered. You bear no early-service cost if the required cancellation or cost information was missing, or there was no compliant request.
For a service-only contract, full performance can end the cancellation right if work began following your request and acknowledgement that completion would remove that right. In a goods-and-installation contract, fitting a removable item does not automatically remove the goods cancellation right. Ask the seller to identify the goods price, installation charge and exact meaning of any early-start declaration.
Check the bespoke exception against the specification
Goods genuinely made to your specifications or clearly personalised are excluded from the change-of-mind cancellation right. However, government guidance says assembly after ordering does not necessarily make goods bespoke. Choosing fabric and colour from a standard sofa range is its example. Ask which dimensions, materials or finish depart from the seller’s standard range, and keep the approved drawing.
If the seller relies on a bespoke exception, ask for the specification and cancellation terms it supplied before agreement. A deposit dispute needs its own assessment; use bespoke order deposits. Government guidance says a cancellation charge must be reasonable, and a signed term is not automatically binding.
Working out your own order? Send us the product on WhatsApp and we reply the same working day: WhatsApp us
Send a clear cancellation and preserve the evidence
You may use the cancellation form or another clear statement that you are cancelling. Send the UK seller a dated email identifying the order and keep the sent message. Ask it to confirm the return or collection arrangements and explain any proposed deduction. Before removing installed fittings, photograph their condition and agree a safe removal plan.
Keep change-of-mind cancellation separate from a complaint about faulty or misdescribed goods, which involves different rights. Use faulty goods and claims for that route. If an agreed repair involves sending goods abroad, follow repair-and-return customs paperwork. Keep the UK seller correspondence with your specification and factory records. For fitting problems, see our guide to resolving faulty home fitting installation.
Frequently asked questions
Can I cancel if I invited the salesperson to my house?
An invitation alone does not remove off-premises status. Check whether you bought as a consumer, where the contract was agreed and whether an exception applies.
Does my cancellation period start when I sign?
For an eligible goods-and-installation sale, you can cancel from agreement, but the normal deadline is 14 days after the day you receive the goods. Service-only contracts use the agreement date.
Can I cancel after installation has started?
Starting installation does not automatically remove the goods cancellation right. Properly requested early services may be chargeable. Check the request, information supplied and whether the fittings are genuinely bespoke.
Are fittings ordered from China automatically bespoke?
No. Ask what was made to your individual specification. Government guidance says assembly after an order does not necessarily make an item bespoke; standard-range choices need scrutiny.