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Contracts

Q: Stage school students breaching contract

I used to go to a part-time stage school, but left in half-term, because it was extremely bad and I didn't like it there. I didn't give half a term's notice, because I didn't know I was going to leave. The school told me to come back next term or pay nearly £100, which is totally unreasonable. What should I do, as I shall not pay the money?

A: This is a matter governed by the basic principles of the law of contract. It is very common for schools and other educational establishments to prescribe a period of advance notice (usually a whole term) for early withdrawal from a prescribed period or course of study.

The reason is obvious, namely because the availability of places needs to be known well in advance. The later a vacancy becomes available the less likely it is that the school will be able to fill it, failing which it will make a financial loss, whether the course is otherwise full or not. That is why a minimum period of notice is usually required.

The first thing for you to do is to get out all the paperwork you had with the school (correspondence, terms of business, prospectus or whatever) and scrutinise it carefully to see what it says about notice of leaving in the middle of a course. I suspect you will find there was a stipulation about half a term's notice, in which case, if you took up an offer of a place on those terms, you will be bound by them, and failure to comply will make you liable for the amount claimed if, as seems likely, it is a genuine pre-estimate of the loss likely to be sustained by the school.

On the other hand, the school has a duty in law to mitigate its loss, so that, if it is able to fill the course including your vacancy, it will not have sustained any loss at all and, depending upon the precise wording of your contract terms, you may have a good defence on that ground.

You should therefore ask whether or not the school has been able to fill the remainder of the course without you, which seems unlikely in the middle of an academic year. If it has not been able to do so, you may want to consider going back next term in order to get a least some value for your money, and give proper notice in good time for the following term. I note that your reason for not wanting to go back is that you regard the school, as "extremely bad". Obviously, that has to be a matter of subjective opinion and degree.

If you could prove that it was so bad as to fall below the standards of competence and facilities you were entitled reasonably to expect then you might conceivably have a counter-claim, but the burden of proof would be difficult to discharge and the legal costs of fighting a contested action on such a hazardous issue with the likelihood of a good deal of evidence being stacked against you would be prohibitive, and certainly counter-productive by comparison with the existing claim against you for less than £100.

You could wait to be sued in the small claims court and defend yourself, after indicating to the school that you intend to complain about their standard of education, which might possibly deter them from suing you owing to adverse publicity, but you should ask yourself whether, in the circumstances, you will really feel comfortable about doing that. After all, as I have demonstrated, the school is not being unreasonable in requiring only half a term's notice, and if you look at it from the school's point of view, you may find this acceptable after all. You could attempt to negotiate a compromise. Otherwise be prepared to pay.

First published November 2000