Building Law Monthly
Did notice requirement apply to common law right to terminate?
In Vinergy International (PVT) Ltd v Richmond Mercantile Ltd FZC [2016] EWHC 525 (Comm) Teare J held that a notice provision
in a contract, which required a contracting party to give to the party in breach 20 days in which to remedy the breach, did
not extend to the right of the parties at common law to accept a repudiatory breach as terminating the contract between the
parties. He reached this conclusion as a matter of the construction of the contract. The contract term containing the notice
provision made no express mention of the common law right to accept a repudiatory breach and there was held to be no basis
for the implication of a term which required that notice of 20 days be given to remedy the breach before exercising the right
at common law to accept the repudiatory breach.