Home improvement and home solicitation: right to cancel contracts: notice.

Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry’s measure on home improvement contracts, home solicitation, and related sales weaves policy substance with the author’s approach to consumer protections by charting a comprehensive framework for cancellation rights, contract disclosures, and enforcement mechanisms.

At the core, the proposal broadens and standardizes cancellation rights across in-person home-improvement contracts, home solicitation offers, telephonic solicitations, and seminars. For standard home improvement contracts, buyers would have a three-business-day right to cancel (five days for senior citizens in certain contexts) and, in some disaster or emergency-related scenarios, a seven-day window. The measure also requires that cancellation rights be presented in a form that accompanies or is attached to the contract, with the cancellation notice provided in duplicate as a detachable form, and that notices be written in the same language as the oral sales presentation. The contract framework would require extensive content on the first page, including the date signed, contractor name and location, and a “Contract Price” block, along with a detailed description of the project and significant materials to be used. Additional mandatory disclosures would include a downpayment cap, a schedule of progress payments, start and completion dates, and a note about the performance and payment bond. A new checkbox would indicate whether a subcontractor will be used, and if so, a disclaimer would indicate that subcontractor details will be provided upon request. Notices about commercial general liability insurance, workers’ compensation, mechanics’ liens, and information about the Contractors State License Board would be required as attachments or notices, and the contract would require an email address to which cancellation notices may be sent and a phone number to assist the buyer with locating and completing the notice.

The measure also extends the cancellation framework to telephonic sellers and seminar sales. For telephonic solicitations and home solicitation contracts, the bill requires a written Notice of Cancellation to accompany products or a notice of confirmation for services, with a detachable duplicate form that mirrors the in-person process and is provided in the same language as the solicitation. The notices must contain specific cancellation language and include information such as the telephonic seller’s addresses, the method to obtain without purchase the item(s), and the total number of customers who have received the highest- and lowest-value items in the prior period. For seminars, the protocol similarly mandates a Notice of Cancellation, a detachable form, a defined minimum font size, and language-matching requirements. The overarching approach treats cancellation rights and associated forms as parallel across contract types, with consistent expectations for timing, refunds, and return of goods.

The proposal enlarges consumer protections by adding an enforcement mechanism: buyers may file a complaint with the Contractors State License Board if a Notice of Cancellation is not included or attached to a home improvement contract. This channel would operate alongside existing licensure and disciplinary processes, creating a direct linkage between contract compliance and licensure oversight. The measure also embeds additional drafting and formatting requirements throughout the contract regime, including explicit headings like “Contract Price,” “Description of the Project,” and “Downpayment,” and mandates the inclusion of standardized notices to inform buyers about lien warnings and other protections. Finally, a cross-bill operative provision ties the amendments to another Senate measure in a sequencing framework: the proposed changes to the core contract provisions would become operative only if both measures are enacted and effective by a specified date, with an additional condition that could render the amendments inoperative if timing or enactment order is not met.

From a regulatory and implementation perspective, the measure would impose substantial template updates, language- and format-related training for licensees, and multilingual documentation to reflect the language-matching requirements. It contemplates a rise in CSLB activity related to complaints about missing cancellation notices and other disclosures, and it signals fiscal committee consideration to evaluate associated costs and workload. The policy aims to harmonize cancellation rights across home-improvement, telephonic, and seminar contexts, clarify contractor disclosures (including subcontractor involvement) and lien-related warnings, and extend a formal enforcement pathway to protect consumers throughout the contracting lifecycle, while coordinating with a companion bill that governs the scope and timing of the amendments.