| Legislation in the interior design industry today |
By: Diana Yakeley, President elect of the British Institute of Interior Design
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Posted: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 4:19 pm
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The image of the interior designer as a last minute addition to the team of consultants on a project, appointed to add the finishing touches, is well and truly outdated. Professional designers are highly trained and well informed on everything from sustainability to flammability, and from cold bridges to hot floors. Our industry, unlike many of the other design disciplines, is a complex marriage between the construction industry and the creative arts, and the construction industry is one of the most regulated in the UK. October alone saw the changes to the new Building Regulations Parts L, J and F–G earlier in the year, which affect what we do. Far too complex to explain in 500 words but there are excellent guides from NBS available through RIBA bookshops.
The law treats consumer clients differently from commercial clients. New regulations, presumably to protect consumers against hard selling double glazing salesmen, came into effect on 1 October 2008 which have had the (perhaps unintended) consequence of applying to the provision of professional services. Even lawyers are now coming around to the view that it affects them. A consumer, for the purposes of this legislation, is defined as a natural person who is not acting in the course of his trade or profession.
'The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008' require any supplier of goods or services who negotiates a contract with a consumer client following the supplier's (designer's) visit to a home (the client’s or any other home) or the client's place of work or on an 'excursion’ organised by the supplier away from the designer's business premises (perhaps on a shopping expedition) to notify the client that he/she is entitled to cancel any agreement within 7 days of signing it. Any charges incurred before the expiry of 7 days cannot be enforced unless the client agrees to this in writing.
One consequence of this legislation is that it becomes even more important for a designer to obtain a signed agreement from a consumer client before starting any work or supplying any goods as otherwise a client wishing to disown an appointment agreement, perhaps to avoid paying fees, could claim that he/she was not given proper notice under the regulations.
The British Institute of Interior Design, in its recent publication, the BIID Agreement for Interior Design Services, ID/10, published in September as a replacement to ID/05, provides this notification together with the specified  form of notice of cancellation.
Another new publication, The BIID Interior Design Job Book sets out the professional standard for running an interior design project. Suitable for all interior designers – whether working alone or as part of a design team, and on projects of all sizes – it provides guidance for every stage of a job, from appraisal of the client’s requirements, understanding contracts, through to practical completion and payment - even to guidance on appearing in court if things go horribly wrong!
Diana Yakeley is President elect of the British Institute of Interior Design and director responsible for Professional Practice. |
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