Construction contract mistakes: That wasn’t quite what we meant

By Victoria Peckett2019-09-05T05:00:00

When rectifying contracts to fix drafting mistakes, what happens if the parties disagree on what was meant?

Construction contracts are often so voluminous that it can be easy for mistakes to creep in when putting them together and for the executed contract not to reflect what the parties think they have agreed in all respects. Often these mistakes can be sorted out by agreement – either the parties will amend the erroneous parts in manuscript before dating them, or if necessary they can sign up to a variation agreement to sort them out.

But what happens if the parties don’t agree that there’s been a mistake, or how it should be resolved? The aggrieved party can apply to the courts for rectification of the contract. Rectification allows a court to amend a legal document if, because of a common mistake, it does not reflect the intention of the parties.

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