No claim in contract or unjust enrichment

In Munkenbeck and Marshall v The Vinyl Factory Ltd [2019] EWHC 3225 (TCC), Mr Adam Constable QC held that the claimants were not entitled as a matter of contract law to recover a fee of 8% of the construction costs for the work which it had designed. While such a fee had been put to the defendant by the claimants, it amounted to no more than an invitation to enter negotiations and was not an offer which had been accepted by the defendant. Nor were the claimants entitled to succeed with their restitutionary claim given that their relationship was governed by the terms of their contract and it was held not to be possible to resort to a claim in unjust enrichment to recover a sum held not to be recoverable under the terms of the contract between the parties.