Is Certainty An Essential Element Of A Building Contract?

Overview

Courts are often unwilling to hold that an agreement is unenforceable for uncertainty when, by all appearances, the parties intended to make a contract. But in a very spirited and colourful judgment, the Court of Appeal for Alberta has recently weighed in very heavily on the need for certainty in any contract, and particularly a building contract. In Seong Yun Ko v. Hillview Homes Ltd., that court provided a virtual law library on the Anglo-Canadian law, plus a dictionary of aphorisms and Latin phrases, on the subject of certainty in contracts. Put this case in your hip pocket for the next time you need to address the issue because it will take you to all the important principles and cases.