I am an avid fan of Home and Garden Television (HGTV). However, when it comes to remodeling most of my projects have been smaller more manageable ones that are completed within a few days. However, an increasingly amount of homeowners are embarking on major home improvement projects, which require the aid of professionals—if you are one of them you may want to pay close attention to your legal rights.
I happened to live in a state that has a “Right to Cure” law, which makes it more complicated to take legal action if something goes wrong with construction and remodeling projects that are outsourced. This, of course, means that residents here have to take extra steps to protect themselves. Before I get into the details of the “Right to Cure” law, I highly suggest you research any and all laws your state has regarding the hiring of professional contractors. Often when a homeowner gets into a disagreement with a professional contractor the disputes end up in court—something I’m sure you’d want to avoid.
With our new “Right to Cure” law, a homeowner must provide the contractor or supplier with written notification of a problem at least 90 days prior to taking legal action. In addition, he or she must follow new timelines to allow the contractor or supplier to respond and remedy the situation. If a remedy is not offered or the remedy is unsatisfactory, the homeowner can take the matter to court. By the way, before contractors are required to provide consumers with a copy of the brochure about this new law prior to entering into an agreement.
If you are still in the early stages of a home improvement project and have yet to contact a contractor, experts say the best tip they can offer is to carefully check out the reputation of your prospective contractor before signing on the dotted line (you should also insist on a detailed contract), and certainly before any work begins. In addition, do not pay in full until the job is done and you are completely satisfied.