Pennsylvania lets you cancel a home improvement contract within three business days of signing and requires a refund within ten

Pennsylvania's Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, at 73 P.S. § 517.7, lets the person who signs a home improvement contract cancel it without penalty within three business days of signing, wherever it was signed. Section 7 of the state's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law supplies the cancellation form contractors use and requires a refund of every payment within ten business days of a valid cancellation.

1The contract must carry a bold notice and two copies of a cancellation form

The act calls the right rescission, which means undoing the contract as though it had never been signed. Section 7(b) grants it to anyone who signs a home improvement contract, except for emergency work, and section 7(a)(13) makes a contract unenforceable against the owner unless it includes a notice of the right.

The wording of that notice comes from section 7 of the consumer protection law. Next to the buyer's signature line, in bold type of at least 10 points, the contract must carry a statement in substantially this form:

Attached go two detachable copies of a form captioned "Notice of Cancellation," each filled in with the seller's name and business address, the date of the transaction and a deadline no earlier than the third business day after it.

Two provisions protect a homeowner who never got the form. Section 7(e) of the consumer protection law says the three days do not start until the buyer has been told of the right and given copies of the notice. The Attorney General's office says in its answers on the act that a business has to provide the notice exactly as the law words it, and that a homeowner who was never told of the right may be able to void the whole contract even after the three days have passed.

2Counting Saturday puts the deadline on November 28 and leaving it out moves it to November 30

Neither the act nor section 7 of the consumer protection law defines a business day. The Federal Trade Commission's cooling-off rule for sales made at home, 16 CFR Part 429, defines it as any calendar day except Sunday and federal holidays, so Saturday counts. Which definition a Pennsylvania court would apply to a home improvement contract could not be verified from these sources, so the example below uses the commission's count and shows a weekday count beside it.

This example uses round numbers and is not drawn from any real job. A homeowner signs a $30,000 bathroom contract on Tuesday, November 24, 2026, and pays a $10,000 deposit, one-third of the price and the most the act allows on a job over $5,000, as our article on the deposit cap explains.

Wednesday is the first business day. Thanksgiving, on Thursday, November 26, is a federal holiday and does not count. Friday is the second business day and Saturday the third, so the homeowner has until midnight on Saturday, November 28, to mail or deliver the notice. A count that skipped Saturdays would push the deadline to Monday, November 30.

3The $10,000 deposit is due back by December 12 under the FTC count

Suppose the homeowner mails the signed form on Friday, November 27. Under section 7(a) of the consumer protection law, the cancellation takes effect when the notice goes into the mail, so it is on time even though the contractor receives it on Tuesday, December 1.

Section 7(g) then gives the contractor ten business days from receipt to refund all payments, return any negotiable instrument, meaning a check or promissory note the homeowner signed for the job, and end any security interest, a seller's or lender's legal claim on the homeowner's property. Under the FTC count the $10,000 is due by Saturday, December 12. Under a weekday count it is due by Tuesday, December 15.

If materials were delivered before the cancellation, the homeowner has to make them available at the house in substantially as good condition. Within the same ten business days the seller must say whether it will collect them, and a seller that does not collect them within 20 days of the notice forfeits them.

4A signed emergency card at least 4 by 6 inches gives up the three days

5What to check before you sign

• Look for the bold cancellation statement beside the signature line and for two copies of the Notice of Cancellation.
• Both copies should show the contractor's name, a street address for its place of business, the date of the transaction and a deadline date.
• Check the deadline against a calendar, and make sure the transaction date on the contract is the day you sign.

If you decide to cancel, sign and date one copy of the form, or write your own notice, and mail or deliver it to the address on the form before midnight on the deadline. Because the cancellation counts from the day it goes into the mail, mail it at a post office counter and ask for a receipt that shows the date, such as certified mail. Keep the second copy and a photo of the one you sent.

Check the contractor's registration number with the Attorney General's office at 1-888-520-6680, the toll-free number every contract has to list. Our guide to what Pennsylvania law requires when you hire a contractor lists every term a contract must contain. For a roof, see Conshy Roofers.

6Caveats