Commentary on Sections Part 1: Consumer Contracts for Goods, Digital Content and Services What statutory rights are there under a services contract? Section 51: Reasonable price to be paid for a service
253.In most cases, a contract will set out the price for the service, and indeed following the 2013 Regulations, traders who are not excluded will be under an obligation to provide information about the price before the consumer is bound by the contract. In addition, the price could be paid up-front when the contract is agreed, in which case the consumer will know the price. If for any reason the price is not known from the outset, this provision sets out that the consumer must pay a reasonable price. What is ‘reasonable’ is a question of fact. This means that if the question of what is a reasonable price comes before a court and the court makes a decision, the ability of the parties to appeal that decision will be limited once it has been made.
254.This section corresponds to section 15 of the SGSA but updates the language in line with the rest of Part 1.
255.For example, if a home owner engages a plumber to fix an urgent leak, he/she may not take the time to discuss the price before fixing the problem. The price might not be in the contract if the plumber did not know the problem before he/she arrived to fix it. If the leak was fixed in ten minutes and with only a £50 replacement part, £1000 is unlikely to be a reasonable price to pay.