Monday 13 October 2025
Your weekly SQE Prep Quiz has arrived
Dear Subscriber,
Hope you had a great weekend! Please see below for the question, the answer to the previous question and associated resources. This is the web version of this newsletter.
Coffee Break! Join me this Wednesday at 1pm for our MCQ coffee break. I will be going through the SRA’s sample questions with you. Click here to access. Free for everyone!
This Week’s Question: A homeowner hires a builder to install a luxury swimming pool for £60,000. The contract specifies that the pool must be lined with a particular imported tile. The builder completes the pool but uses a cheaper local tile instead. The pool is fully functional and safe, and the market value of the property is only £1,000 less than if the correct tiles had been used. Replacing the tiles would require completely rebuilding the pool at a cost of £25,000. The homeowner insists on claiming the full cost of reconstruction.
What is the court most likely to award as damages?
A. The full £25,000 cost of replacing the tiles, because the builder breached a specific contractual term.
B. Nothing, because the builder acted in good faith and caused no significant loss in value.
C. The £1,000 difference in value, because the cost of cure would be wholly disproportionate to the loss suffered.
D. The average of the two figures, £13,000, as a reasonable compromise between cost and value.
E. The full contract price of £60,000, because the breach deprived the homeowner of the entire benefit of the bargain.
Dig Deeper: Learn more the calculating damages, by watching this video
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Last Week’s Question: A woman parks her car in a public car park operated by a private company. At the entrance, there is a small sign displaying the parking charges and a note stating “All vehicles parked at owner’s risk – see full conditions displayed inside.” She takes a ticket from a machine and parks. Inside the car park, a large board near the payment machine lists additional terms, including a clause excluding liability for damage caused by the company’s negligence. Her car is later damaged due to a defective barrier operated by the company.
When the company seeks to rely on the exclusion clause, how is the court most likely to decide?
A. The exclusion clause is effective because it was displayed somewhere within the car park.
B. The exclusion clause is effective because the woman accepted the ticket and parked.
C. The exclusion clause is not incorporated because it was not brought to her attention before the contract was formed.
D. The exclusion clause is not incorporated because exclusion clauses are automatically void in consumer contracts.
E. The exclusion clause is effective because reasonable notice is not required in a standard form contract.
✅ Correct Answer: C The exclusion clause is not incorporated because it was not brought to her attention before the contract was formed. Feedback: The contract was formed when the woman took the ticket and entered the car park. Any terms displayed only after entry were introduced too late to be incorporated. This follows Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1971] 2 QB 163, where Lord Denning held that customers are bound only by terms made available before or at the time of contracting, and particularly strict notice is required for onerous clauses.
- Option A is wrong: a term displayed after contract formation is not automatically incorporated.
- Option B is wrong: acceptance of the ticket does not imply agreement to undisclosed terms.
- Option D is wrong: exclusion clauses are not automatically void; they are subject to CRA 2015 fairness tests.
- Option E is wrong: even in standard form contracts, reasonable notice is essential for incorporation.
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All the best
Dr Ioannis (Yannis) Glinavos
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