Taylor entered into a contract with Matrix Designers Pte Ltd (“MD”) to design and renovate her 20-year-old apartment. Under the terms of the contract, MD was to provide interior design, space planning and project management.

The contract stated that the project commenced on 1 July 2023 and was to be completed and handed over on 1 December 2023. The contract sum was $100,000. According to the terms of the contract, Taylor paid $10,000 immediately upon signing the contract. She paid another 20% after the flooring and the walls of the apartment were completed. She then paid a further 30% after all the carpentry work was done. The balance of the contract sum was to be paid when the unit was handed back to Taylor.

MD arranged to hand the unit back to Taylor on 1 Dec 2023.When Taylor inspected the unit with the designer from MD, she noticed that all the  doorknobs for her cupboards were different from the ones she had picked. When questioned, the designer apologised and explained that the particular design of the doorknobs was not available, and MD had replaced the doorknobs with an alternative to ensure the project could be finished in time. Taylor was very unhappy. She refused to pay the balance of the contract sum to MD and insisted that MD replace the doorknobs with the ones she had selected previously.
MD refused to replace the doorknobs because it had received some other lucrative contracts, and it would rather focus on its new projects. It argued that the installed doorknobs were perfectly fine and insisted that it should be paid the balance of 40% of the contract. Taylor, on the other hand, contended that she need not pay the balance since MD failed to follow her instructions. A different contractor wanted to charge Taylor $4000 to change the existing doorknobs to the ones Taylor had previously picked.

MD sought your advice on the following:

(a) Define  what  discharge  of  a  contract  is  and  explain  the FOUR  (4) ways  a contract maybe discharged. (20 marks)

(b) Discuss the LEGAL PRINCIPLES concerning the above case study, APPLY the legal principles, and CONCLUDE whether MD could treat the contract with Taylor as discharged and recover the balance 40% of the contract sum. (35 marks)

(c) Would your answer be different if midway through the renovations, Taylor wanted to appoint a different company to renovate her apartment and insist that MD return her the keys to the apartment? There was no termination clause in the contract between Taylor and MD. Taylor had paid MD a total of $10,000 at that point but MD had incurred material and labour costs of $40,000. (15 marks)

(Total: 75 marks)

PART B: An oral presentation by the group contributes 25% of CA2.

(i)  The oral presentation maybe in the form of a skit, role play or other creative presentation of the above.

(ii)  The oral presentation will be conducted during either Lesson 13 or Lesson 14 (the schedule shall be announced by the respective lecturer later). All members of the group must be present.

(iii)  Evaluation criteria - refer to Annex A.

NOTES:

Students are expected to work as a group, appoint a leader from among themselves, share the workload, and submit CA2 as a group (only one submission through the leader) by the due date and time. The students are to present as a group.

If any member is uncooperative or contributes less than his/her fair share, please alert your lecturer as soon as possible, gather all evidence of communications and submit the peer evaluation form available on Canvas.