Beauty- a property developer and Stylish- their customer have a contract over a new house In the eastern sector of Singapore. The house was completed in late 2013. Stylish isn’t happy with the contract because blinds, curtains and other window coverings were not provided in the new house. In this research paper, we will advise and discuss about Stylist’s contractual rights in relation to the window coverings. Firstly, we need to see if this contract is valid or not. A valid contract is an agreement which the law will recognize and enforce.
It must have Intention to create legal relations and must possess consideration. In this case, Beauty and Stylish have an agreement. They created legal relations through signing the written contract. Last but not least, the contract possesses consideration because Stylish pays Beauty for making the house. Beauty and Stylist’s contract includes four elements of a valid contract so it’s indeed a valid contract. Stylish is upset with the contract because at one of their meetings, stylish was told that the house will include curtains, blinds and window.
Several weeks later stylish agreed to purchase the house and signed a written contract. In this contract, there Is a term “clause 3″ said that:” The contract price of the house excludes all window coverings. The provision of curtains, blinds or other window coverings is the responsibility of the purchaser and will not be provided pursuant to this contract”. This is an express term. That mean stylish and beauty have specifically discussed and agreed upon, whether orally or in writing. If the contract is in writing, the document which embodies the contract will be regarded as complete.
No evidence will be allowed by the Court to add to, vary on contradict the written terms except under certain situation. This Is called the Parole Evidence Rule. Accordingly, this rule allows the parties to the contract to only follow the written agreement if there is a conflict between this and any oral statements made. Therefore, Beauty does not breach the contract and Stylish cannot sue them for that. However, before signing the contract, at one of their meetings, Stylish asked Beauty whether the price of the house included curtains, blinds and window coverings. Beauty explained that all window coverings were provided for in the contract.
This might be a misrepresentation; led Stylish to a false belief that the curtains and coverings have been mentioned in the contract. For this reason, it can be used to help Stylish in this case. A misrepresentation is an untrue statement of fact by one party to a contract to the other, at or before the time the contract was made, which induces the other to enter into the contract. This statement is not a term of the contract. Where an untrue statement Is a term of contract the plaintiff can sue for breach of contract. A misrepresentation must include four elements : 1) Statement must be a fact.
It Is not a statement of law, Intention, pollen or an advertiser’s puff. 2) Statement must be false 3) Statement made by one party of contract to another. The essence is that one party must mislead the other. 4) The representation must have induced the other party to enter into the contract. If the represented did not rely on the untrue statement, he has not been Induced. If the person attempts to check the truth of what has been In this case, Beauty statement is a fact and it’s false because blinds, curtains and there window coverings were not provided in the new house of Stylish.
This statement is made by Beauty to Stylish and it made Stylish mislead about the contract. In conclusion, Beauty statement is clearly a misrepresentation. Nonetheless, to use this statement against Beauty and choose a suitable remedy, we need to find out what is the type of this misrepresentation. There are three types of misrepresentation: 1) Fraudulent misrepresentation If the person making the statement knows that what he has said is false, he will be liable for fraud. The injured party may rescind the contract and also sue for damages for the tort of deceit. ) Negligent misrepresentation This is where the person making the false statements has no reasonable grounds for believing the statement to be true. Damages may be awarded either for the tort of negligence or under the Misrepresentation Act 1967. The injured party is more likely to be successful under the Act, because it reserves the normal burden of proof. Thus the defendant will only escape liability if he can prove the statement was made innocently. The Judge may award rescission as well as damage. ) Innocent misrepresentation An innocent misrepresentation is a false statement made by a person who had reasonable grounds to believe that it was true, not only when it was made but also when the contract was entered into. The basic remedy is rescission of the contract. Under the Misrepresentation Act, the court may in its discretion award damages instead. In this case, due to the lack of information, we cannot decide what type of misrepresentation Beauty statement is. We don’t know if Beauty has or doesn’t have seasonable ground for believing their statement.
It could be fraudulent misrepresentation for higher profit. Or it could be negligent misrepresentation- the contractor forgot to put the extra request in the contract. If Stylish can provide evidence about Beauty statement, we can sue Beauty, claim damages or even rescind the contract depend on what kind of misrepresentation Beauty made. For Fraudulent misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation, the remedy is rescinds the contract and claims damages. For innocent misrepresentation, the remedy is only claim damages.
For remedies, rescind the contract doesn’t matter because Stylish accepted the house. The only problem is the blinds, curtains and window coverings are not provided. Nonetheless, claiming remedies for this case is very difficult unless Stylish has enough evidences prove that Beauty made a misrepresentation. In conclusion, unless Stylish has the evidence of Beauty’s misrepresentation, Stylish has no contractual right to sue Beauty. To save the situation, Stylish can try to negotiate with Beauty about the loss and make an additional contract about the blinds, curtains and window coverings.
