In early 2015, Edgbaston University decided to refurbish its Uff Building, which houses the University's Law Department. The University entered into a contract with Brumbuild Ltd, a local building firm with considerable experience of such work. The refurbishment was to start as soon as term finished in mid-May and had to be completed by September 15^thin time for the start of the new academic year. The total contract price was 4.5 million. A clause in the contract stated that for every day's delay, a deduction of 40,000 would be made (we will assume that this clause is enforceable).

George is a local joiner who had been sub-contracted by Brumbuild to fit new shelving to all the staff offices. Work was to start on 21 August and to be completed by 4 September, with the contract price agreed at 35,000. There were 52 offices in total. George's business is quite small and he has only two employees who work with him. By 28 August, they had only managed to complete the shelving in 16 offices. When Brumbuild asked for an explanation for the delay, Darren said that he had underpriced the contract and could only afford to pay his employees to work 5 hours per day. Brumbuild decided to offer George an extra 500 per office completed on time so he could get his employees to work full-time. By 4 September, 37 offices had been completed. Following an argument, both his employees resigned, and George was unable to complete the work. Brumbuild's own staff completed the remaining offices. In accordance with the contract, George was paid a proportion of the contract price based on the number of offices completed (24,900). George has also claimed an additional 10,500 for the 21 offices completed after 28 August, but Brumbuild refuses to pay.

Please think about the following issues and come prepared to discuss them in the seminar:

a.What legal problems have arisen in the above set of facts?

b.Which contract law rules are relevant to resolving the legal issues between Brumbuild and George?

c.Why does the change in the agreement give rise to a problem of enforceability in contract law (consider the cases of Stilk v Myrick and Williams v Roffey Bros)?

d.What are the similarities and differences between the scenario above and Williams v Roffey and subsequent decisions?

e.What conclusion would you reach about whether Brumbuild is legally entitled to refuse to pay 10,500?