Breach has consequences. Collect them. Speak to Kestrel.
A breach of contract entitles you to damages that put you where you would have been had the deal been kept, and a serious enough breach lets you end the contract too. The two traps are waiting, which can waive rights, and overreacting, which can put you in breach. The right sequence is fix the facts, take a view on seriousness, then act once.
Not all breaches are equal. Minor breaches sound in damages only: the contract continues and you claim the shortfall. A breach going to the root of the deal, or of a term the contract makes essential, entitles you to terminate as well. The classification decides your options, so it comes first.
If the other side shows they will not perform at all, you may accept that repudiation and end the contract now rather than waiting for the failure to play out. But carrying on as if all is well can affirm the contract and quietly close that door. What you say and do after the breach matters as much as the breach.
Damages follow proved loss flowing naturally from the breach or within the parties' contemplation, and you must take reasonable steps to mitigate. Clauses fixing a sum for breach are enforceable if they protect a legitimate interest and are not extravagant; the label penalty or liquidated damages does not decide it.
Law checked: August 2026. General information for England and Wales, not advice on your facts.
Condition or warranty, repudiatory or minor. This single call determines whether you can terminate or only claim.
A holding letter reserving rights costs nothing and prevents accidental affirmation while you decide.
Loss of profit, wasted costs, cost of cover. Overclaiming weakens credibility; a defensible number settles cases.
Letter before action with the election made and the number attached. Unresolved: issue within limitation and within any contractual notice window.
Tell Kestrel what happened. Plain answers on the spot, any hour, and a booked call with a lawyer if you want one.
Speak to Kestrel nowSix years from the breach for standard contracts, twelve for deeds. Contractual notice-of-claim clauses can shrink that to months, and affirmation can end termination rights in weeks.
This sits in our Commercial contracts practice. The machine builds the file; the named lawyer does the law.
Solicitor · Co-Founder · Chief Executive Officer · Commercial contracts
Generally yes, apart from a few categories the law requires in writing, such as land. Proving the terms is the challenge, and the surrounding messages usually do it.
For a sufficiently serious breach, yes, both. For a minor one, termination is not available and purporting to terminate is itself a breach. This is the judgement call to get right before acting.
Caps and exclusions are read narrowly against the party relying on them, and they cannot exclude certain liabilities at all. Have the clause read before accepting their number.
Most breach claims settle at the letter stage within weeks. A defended court claim runs months to a year or more, which is priced into the advice on whether it is worth it.
Any hour. Plain answers, a fixed quote in writing, and a named solicitor by 9:00.
Speak to Kestrel