I am indebted this week to John Abbbott of Abbott Law Offices in Berwyn who has written a follow up article for me on the new contractor registration law.
In just a few weeks the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will begin registering over 80,000 home improvement contractors. This is just the first of a two-phase law that was passed in October 2008 and goes into effect this July 1st.
The registration phase is being handled by the Attorney General's Office so you know it is important. All contractors must apply (most likely thru a web site) in order to obtain a registration number. The key factors in the registration process are:
- You are a "contractor" if you do any kind of work (with a couple exceptions) over $500 inside or outside a residence.
- The application will include social security numbers, home addresses, all prior business names, street address of business (no post office box addresses permitted), home phone number, some criminal records, bankruptcy filings, etc.
- Proof of liability insurance and property damage insurance.
The second phase of the law applies to the contracts that are signed with the homeowner. The law requires all contracts after July 1st to provide for the following:
- All estimates, proposals, contracts and even advertisements must contain the contractor's new license number.
- The contract must be in writing, signed by the contractor and the home owner, dated, and legible.
- The contract must contain an approximate starting and completion date, a description of the work and materials to be used and a set of specifications.
- The contract must contain the names, addresses and phone numbers of all subcontractors.
- All contracts will contain a right to rescind them within 3 days.
- Deposit amounts will be limited.
......and the list of contract provisions goes on even further.
What does all this mean? Well, even though we do not yet have the Attorney General's rules for the application process, come July 1st the contracting process will get much more complicated in light of all the new contract provisions and requirements. Hopefully this law will have the desired effect of eliminating the bad contractors in Pennsylvania. For further information feel free to contact John Abbott at his offices in Berwyn.
By: John R. Abbott, Esq.
Abbott Law Offices, LLC
1231 Lancaster Avenue
Berwyn, PA 19312
(610) 647-4777