In California, homeowners have three days to cancel a contractor agreement, except when the contract involves service and repair work or was arranged at the contractor's business location.
Cooling-off Rule is a rule that allows you to cancel a contract within a few days (usually three days) after signing it. As explained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the federal cooling-off rules gives the consumer three days to cancel certain sales for a full refund.
A homeowner may also have a right to cancel a contract after three days in limited, extraordinary, situations. The homeowner's cancellation rights are created by both state and federal laws.
While many people assume terminating a contract is as simple as walking away, there are five legal methods to end a contractual agreement: having a conversation, looking for express rights to terminate, checking legal compliance requirements, reviewing cooling-off periods, and examining vitiating factors.
If the consumer decides to cancel the contract, the consumer must send the contractor a written notice of his or her decision. The consumer may use the Notice of Cancellation form that the contractor has provided (see D. below) but the consumer is not required to use this form.
To cancel, the buyer need only give the contractor written notice of their intent not to be bound by the contract. Under the law when the contract is canceled the seller can be required to return the entire contract amount and restore a consumer's property to the way it was before the contract.