What happens if a contract for services is breached?

Which rules apply and what the professional undertook to do

The contract for services is governed by the Spanish Civil Code (“Código civil”), in Catalonia too, because the “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, sets aside a section for it but has left it empty. As the Spanish Civil Code devotes barely a handful of articles to it, it is mainly the general rules on contracts that apply, the same as for any breach. The first thing is to know what the professional undertook to do:

• If they undertook to achieve a result, such as repairing a boiler, carrying out a renovation or drawing up a design, they are in breach if the result is not achieved or is of no use.
• If they undertook to use the appropriate means, like a lawyer, a doctor or an adviser, they have performed if they act with the care and knowledge their profession requires, even if the result is not the one you expected.

If the professional or the business fails to perform

• Demand in writing, by a method that leaves a record, that the service be provided or the faulty work corrected within a reasonable time.
• You can withhold payment in proportion to what is wrong, but not the whole price if the service was essentially provided. You must be able to justify what you withhold, for example with a quote from another professional, because if you withhold too much you will have to pay it with interest.
• If the breach is serious, because the service is not provided, is abandoned or what was done is of no use, you can bring the contract to an end. You are entitled to a refund of what you paid for what was not done.
• You can claim damages, such as what it costs you to have someone else do it properly and what you have lost because of the mistake.
• Keep the work order, the quote, the emails and messages, the invoices and, if necessary, a report from another professional.
• If you contracted as a consumer, you can also fill in an official complaint form or request consumer arbitration, which is only possible if the business has signed up to that system or agrees to it.

Non-payment by the client and time limits

• The professional can stop providing the service, after giving warning, until they are paid what they are already owed. They can claim it with interest and, if the non-payment is serious, bring the contract to an end.
• In Catalonia, the client has ten years to claim for a service that was not provided or was badly provided, from when they know or could know about the breach and who is liable.
• The professional or the business has three years to claim the price of its work.
• Under the Spanish Civil Code, which applies in most of the rest of Spain, the client has five years and the professional three.
• Before suing, the law generally requires you to try to reach an agreement, for example through a written proposal or mediation.