whenindoubt
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Utah
Long story short:
We hired a lawn maintenance guy and the only agreement we had was an oral agreement to pay $100/month for him to maintain certain areas of our yard. When we tried to terminate services due to financial hardship he claimed we agreed to a 1-year contract and we could not terminate his services. He acted like he was willing to work with us on making payments, even suggested making late payments for now and doubling-up later on when we were able to, so we decided to work with him and just pay him when we could. Earlier this week I got an invoice for a month we have already made payment for, I responded by referring to our previous conversation about him being willing to work with us. He sent me back a nasty letter demanding immediate payment, outlined terms for a contract cancellation penalty, and basically told me I should be grateful he hadn't added any other fees to what was owed. My husband and I have decided we need to know what our legal position is before we respond again.
So, here's my questions:
1) I know that oral agreements can be as binding as written ones in most states, but how likely are we to be held to terms that were never discussed when making the agreement? (1 year contract vs. month-to-month service, termination penalties, etc.)
2) He has not performed any service this month, but insists that we still owe him payment for a full month's worth of service, even claims he did come out at the beginning of the month. Can he hold us to a payment for a service he did not perform simply based on an alleged contract?
3) We found out today that his business license expired sometime in 2011. Does his lack of a business license in any way negate his business contracts, or give us grounds for a breach of contract suit based on the fact we hired him after he represented himself as fully licensed?
I'm not interested in getting anything from him, just don't want to be held liable for paying him anything that I didn't agree to pay him and need to know what I'm getting myself into if we do end up in court over it.
Long story short:
We hired a lawn maintenance guy and the only agreement we had was an oral agreement to pay $100/month for him to maintain certain areas of our yard. When we tried to terminate services due to financial hardship he claimed we agreed to a 1-year contract and we could not terminate his services. He acted like he was willing to work with us on making payments, even suggested making late payments for now and doubling-up later on when we were able to, so we decided to work with him and just pay him when we could. Earlier this week I got an invoice for a month we have already made payment for, I responded by referring to our previous conversation about him being willing to work with us. He sent me back a nasty letter demanding immediate payment, outlined terms for a contract cancellation penalty, and basically told me I should be grateful he hadn't added any other fees to what was owed. My husband and I have decided we need to know what our legal position is before we respond again.
So, here's my questions:
1) I know that oral agreements can be as binding as written ones in most states, but how likely are we to be held to terms that were never discussed when making the agreement? (1 year contract vs. month-to-month service, termination penalties, etc.)
2) He has not performed any service this month, but insists that we still owe him payment for a full month's worth of service, even claims he did come out at the beginning of the month. Can he hold us to a payment for a service he did not perform simply based on an alleged contract?
3) We found out today that his business license expired sometime in 2011. Does his lack of a business license in any way negate his business contracts, or give us grounds for a breach of contract suit based on the fact we hired him after he represented himself as fully licensed?
I'm not interested in getting anything from him, just don't want to be held liable for paying him anything that I didn't agree to pay him and need to know what I'm getting myself into if we do end up in court over it.