Wedding Venue - No planning permission

Andy Bush

New Member
Oct 29, 2015
1
0
0
Please help...

My partner and I recently decided to get married at a local wedding venue in shropshire. We visited the building (an old pub) however, we were told we were not allowed to visit the ceremony area on top of the hill as it was still a construction site. In good faith we booked the wedding for next August (2016) handing over £250 reservation fee and £2000 down payment.

Some months later we were advised the area up on the hill was now completed and they were holding a wedding fayre to celebrate. My partner visited the venue and to her horror, it was awful and nowhere near the level of finish/quality we had been led to expect.

In addition to this the area up on the hill had been sold to us to include 7no. camping pods for overnight stay following the wedding. We have subsequently found out that these camping pods and the toilet facilities (also promised) do not have planning permission (and are not likely to either - given the long list of objections).

Obviously this is a stressful time planning a wedding and we need every penny to pay for such an event. What I'd like to know is, is it illegal/unlawful for the wedding venue to take £2250 from us, and sell us facilities they did not have planning permission to build??

We have contacted the venue to complain, demanding our money back and they have written back to us saying we now owe them a £3500 because we have cancelled the wedding...
 

ALewis

Moderator
Nov 23, 2010
691
4
0
South Wales
Hi Andy,
When any goods or services are paid for by deposit or in full for a future event, any and all descriptions of the goods or services must be supplied at the agreed date/time. These terms form part of the contract.
Any breach of these terms can result in recission of the contract or alteration to the price agreed to pay - whichever is most appropriate to both parties.
Should you wish despite a lower fee to discontinue the use of the venue you would be liable for any costs incurred thus far into the contract - in this case, I guess any admin fees incurred by the business.
Ultimately you cannot be held responsible for the full value of the event as the event you've contracted to cannot be supplied.
Hope this helps