Central Roof Repair · Field Manual · Your Rights
If a roofer knocked on your door and you signed in your living room, Kentucky gives you until midnight of the third business day to cancel. The law is the home solicitation sales part of KRS Chapter 367, and it carries a detail that is easy to miss: if the contract is missing the required cancellation notice, the three-day deadline is not the one that applies.
Does Kentucky give you three days to cancel a roofing contract?
Yes, if the sale was solicited and signed at your home. KRS 367.420(1) gives the buyer the right to cancel a home solicitation sale “until midnight of the third business day after the day on which the buyer signs an agreement or offer to purchase which complies with this part.”
The trigger is how the sale happened, not what was sold. KRS 367.410 defines a “home solicitation sale” as a sale of goods or services in which “the seller or a person acting for him engages in a personal solicitation of the sale at a residence of the buyer and the buyer’s agreement or offer to purchase is there given to the seller or a person acting for him.” Two elements: solicited at your home, and signed at your home.
The same definition rules three things out. It does not include a sale “made pursuant to prior negotiations between the parties, by telephone initiated by the buyer or at a business establishment at a fixed location where goods or services, including loans, are offered or exhibited for sale.” The door-knock after a hailstorm is squarely inside the act. A homeowner who called a contractor, or signed at the contractor’s office, is outside it. So the first question is not “what did I sign” but “where did the conversation start.”
What has to be in the contract?
A dated written agreement plus a specific cancellation notice. Unless you asked for emergency work, KRS 367.430(1) says the seller “must present to the buyer and obtain his signature to a written agreement or offer to purchase which designates as the date of the transaction the date on which the buyer actually signs and contains a statement of the buyer’s rights.”
KRS 367.430(2) dictates that statement. It must appear under the conspicuous caption “BUYER’S RIGHT TO CANCEL” and read: “If this agreement was solicited to your residence and you do not want the goods or services, you may cancel this agreement by mailing a notice to the seller. The notice must say that you do not want the goods or services and must be mailed before midnight of the third business day after you sign this agreement. The notice must be mailed to:” followed by the seller’s address.
Then the sentence that matters most if the paperwork is sloppy. KRS 367.430(3): “Until the seller has complied with this section the buyer may cancel the home solicitation by notifying the seller in any manner and by any means of his intention to cancel.”
If the contract never carried the caption “BUYER’S RIGHT TO CANCEL,” the three-day clock is not the one running. Until the seller complies, the buyer may cancel in any manner and by any means.
How do you actually cancel?
In writing, to the address in the agreement. KRS 367.420(2): “Cancellation occurs when the buyer gives written notice of cancellation to the seller at the address stated in the agreement or offer to purchase.”
Two mechanics make this easier than it sounds. Subsection (3): notice given by mail “is given when it is deposited in a mailbox properly addressed and postage prepaid.” The mailing is what counts, not the day it reaches the contractor. Subsection (4): the notice “need not take a particular form and is sufficient if it indicates by any form of written expression the intention of the buyer not to be bound by the home solicitation sale.” Plain words on paper, mailed to the address printed on the contract, before midnight of day three. Keep a copy and keep proof of mailing.
| Question | What the statute says |
|---|---|
| Deadline | Midnight of the third business day after signing (KRS 367.420(1)) |
| Method | Written notice to the seller at the address stated in the agreement (367.420(2)) |
| Mailed notice | Given when deposited in a mailbox, properly addressed and postage prepaid (367.420(3)) |
| Form | No particular form required (367.420(4)) |
| Required caption on the contract | “BUYER’S RIGHT TO CANCEL,” conspicuous (367.430(2)(a)) |
| If the seller did not comply | Buyer may cancel “in any manner and by any means” (367.430(3)) |
| Emergency work you requested | No cancellation right if all conditions in 367.420(5) are met (see below) |
| Seller’s duty after cancellation | Tender back payments and any note or other evidence of indebtedness within ten days (367.440(1)) |
What does the contractor owe you after you cancel?
KRS 367.440(1): within ten days after a home solicitation sale has been canceled, “the seller must tender to the buyer any payments made by the buyer and any note or other evidence of indebtedness.” Subsection (3): until the seller complies, the buyer “may retain possession of goods delivered to him by the seller and has a lien on the goods in his possession or control for any recovery to which he is entitled.”
When does the three-day right not apply?
There is an emergency exception, and roof leaks are exactly where it lives. Under KRS 367.420(5), the buyer may not cancel if the buyer “requests the seller to provide goods or services without delay because of an emergency,” and all of the following are true.
| Condition in the statute | What it looks like on a roof |
|---|---|
| You requested goods or services without delay because of an emergency | You asked for the tarp or for the leak to be stopped now |
| (a) The seller in good faith makes a substantial beginning of performance of the contract before the buyer gives notice of cancellation | Crew on the roof, dry-in started, not a signed contract sitting in a truck |
| (b) In the case of goods, the goods cannot be returned to the seller in substantially as good condition as when received by the buyer | Material opened and installed, not bundles still wrapped in the driveway |
An emergency tarp you asked for at night is a different thing from a full replacement signed at the kitchen table the same night. Those are two decisions and they deserve two pieces of paper. If a crew arrives to stop water and then produces a replacement contract, you can take your time on the second one.
One more boundary: KRS 367.420(6) treats “home solicitation sales on loans in which a security interest is taken in the principal dwelling of the buyer” differently. There the buyer may rescind or cancel “until midnight of the tenth business day following the later of the consummation of the loan transaction or the delivery of the material disclosures required under the Truth in Lending Act.” That is a financing question, not a roofing question. If anyone proposes a lien on your house to pay for a roof, talk to an attorney first.
Why a roofing company is telling you this
Because the cancellation notice is something a door-to-door seller is required to hand you, and a contractor who does not want you to have it is telling you something about itself. A signed date, the “BUYER’S RIGHT TO CANCEL” caption, and the seller’s mailing address are statutory requirements, not courtesies. If the paperwork in front of you is missing them, you have learned what you need to know. The simplest version of the advice: do not sign on the first visit.
Complaints about consumer transactions in Kentucky go to the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General. This page explains a statute. It is not legal advice, and a Kentucky attorney is the right person to read your specific contract.
If a storm just moved through, start with after the storm and the storm damage roof inspection. If you are holding a quote, how to read a roofing estimate covers what it should say, and roof insurance claims 101 covers the claim side. For who is and is not licensed, see what a Kentucky roofing contractor license actually is.
Questions that follow
Do weekends count in the three business days?
KRS 367.420(1) counts business days, not calendar days, starting after “the day on which the buyer signs.” The statute does not define “business day” within KRS 367.410 to 367.450, so if your deadline is close, mail the notice early and keep the receipt.
What if I called the roofer myself, or signed at their office?
Then it is probably not a home solicitation sale. KRS 367.410 excludes a sale made by telephone initiated by the buyer, a sale made pursuant to prior negotiations, and a sale at a business establishment at a fixed location. Your contract may still have its own cancellation terms, so read it.
I already paid a deposit. Do I get it back?
KRS 367.440(1) requires the seller, within ten days after cancellation, to tender back “any payments made by the buyer and any note or other evidence of indebtedness.” Keep your written notice and proof of mailing.
Sources: Kentucky Revised Statutes 367.410, 367.420, 367.430 and 367.440, read from the official text at apps.legislature.ky.gov on November 3, 2026.
Last updated November 3, 2026.
By Central Roof Repair
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