Cooling off period clause

Sample clause

a home services agreement between Northgate Cleaning and a residential customer signed at the customer's home, both fictional

1. Cooling Off Period. The Customer may cancel this agreement by written notice given to the Supplier at any time before the end of the fifth business day after the day on which the Customer signs it. 1.1 A notice under clause 1 may be given by email to the address in Item 2 of the Schedule, by post, or by handing it to the Supplier's representative. 2. Effect of Cancellation. If the Customer cancels under clause 1, this agreement is at an end, the Supplier must refund every amount the Customer has paid within 10 business days, and neither party owes the other anything further. 3. Services During the Period. The Supplier must not begin the Services, and must not accept payment, before the end of the Cooling Off Period unless the Customer asks in writing for the Services to start earlier. 4. Statutory Rights. Clause 1 is in addition to any right the Customer has under the Australian Consumer Law to terminate an unsolicited consumer agreement, and does not limit that right.

Sample wording, not legal advice.

Variants

What to negotiate

• Whether a statutory right already applies

  This is the first question and it is not negotiable once answered. Unsolicited consumer agreements, certain property contracts and several financial products carry statutory cooling off rights that a contract cannot remove. Drafting a shorter contractual period over the top of a longer statutory one creates a document that misstates the customer's rights, which is a worse outcome than saying nothing.

• How the cancellation must be communicated

  Suppliers want written notice to a named address so the date is recorded. Customers want the method to be easy, because a right that is hard to exercise is worth less. The workable form is a nominated email address plus post, with the notice effective on receipt. Where a statutory right applies, the statutory method governs and the contract cannot narrow it.

• Whether work can start during the period

  Suppliers of urgent services want to begin immediately; the point of the period is that the customer has not committed yet. The usual compromise is that work starts only on a written request from the customer, and if the customer then cancels it pays for what was actually performed rather than a cancellation fee. Statutory regimes often restrict this more tightly.

• Refund timing

  A cooling off right with a slow refund is only half a right. Ten business days is a common and workable deadline, and stating it in the clause avoids the argument entirely. Suppliers sometimes ask for longer where payment came through a third party processor, which is reasonable if the longer period is stated rather than left open.

The risk of leaving it out

Where a statutory cooling off right applies, leaving it out of the document does not remove it, but it does leave customers unaware of a right they hold and leaves the supplier looking as though it concealed one. Where no statutory right applies, omitting a voluntary period simply means cancellations are handled case by case, which is slower and inconsistent.

Statutory periods in Australia and overseas

In Australia the clearest example sits in the Australian Consumer Law, Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which gives a consumer a termination period for an unsolicited consumer agreement, the category covering door to door and telephone sales. The Act also restricts supply and payment during that period. Residential property purchases carry their own cooling off periods, set separately by each state and territory and administered by its fair trading or consumer affairs regulator, so the length and the forfeit differ depending on where the property is. In the United Kingdom the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give a 14 day cancellation right for most distance and off premises consumer contracts. None of these rights depends on the contract mentioning them.

Contractual cooling off is a sales tool

Where no statutory right applies, a voluntary period does a different job: it lowers the cost of saying yes. A ten day window on a business to business subscription removes the pressure from a signing decision and rarely produces many cancellations, because the customer who was going to change their mind usually does so in the first week regardless. The drafting points are the same either way. Say when the period starts, since signing and delivery are different dates. Say how notice is given. Say what happens to money already paid and by when. Say whether work can begin during the period and what is payable if it does.

Where it sits in a generated document

The document generator writes an agreement as numbered content, so a cooling off right usually appears early, near the term, with the cancellation method and the refund deadline as sub clauses. The generated text is written from the description it is given and it never prints citations, so any statutory period named in a draft has to be checked against the legislation and the relevant state regulator before the document is used. Describing the notice method and the refund deadline produces both rather than a bare right to cancel.

Documents that carry this clause

Service agreementBeacon Systems supports Harlow Freight’s IT for an initial 24 months from 1 October 2026 at $8,400 a month plus GST, with 40 hours included and $220 an hour beyond them. Twelve numbered clauses cover the services, a four level severity table, client duties, fees with a CPI adjustment, confidentiality, privacy, IP, a liability cap, termination and a three step dispute ladder.Vehicle sale agreement templateA dual cab ute is changing hands between two people on the Central Coast for $28,500. No dealer, so no statutory warranty and no guarantee of clear title. What the buyer gets instead is five written warranties, a register certificate number, and a mechanic's report obtained before the balance moves.Room rental agreement template for one room in a shared homeRenting a room is not the same as renting a house, and most templates copy a residential lease and hope. This one is written for one room with shared kitchen and bathroom, prices the bills split, lists the rules that matter, and says plainly that the occupant is a boarder or lodger and what that changes.

Questions people ask