Error in contract with contractor

Questioner

Last year, in May and June 2021, I was in contact with a contractor. He made a quote for €42,000, including VAT. I negotiated by telephone and email and we agreed on additional work and an amount of €40,000 including VAT. I mentioned this as a comment on the original quote. However, I accidentally included €40,000 excluding VAT in the contract. In the down payment (in September) and also the 2nd invoice reference was made to the original quote of E 42,000 including VAT. I paid this, with the comment by email that the amount is E 40,000 including. This was never responded to. Now the contractor comes with the contract and says that I have to pay the E 40,000 ex VAT. By the way, he did not carry out the additional work that was listed. Does the down payment, referring to the amount of 42,000, make the first contract applicable? Or is the contractor right and have I just made a stupid mistake and is the 'second' contract applicable now? In addition, he now sends an invoice that is not correct anyway, but he threatens with a collection agency. Can a party just send a collection for invoices that are not correct? greeting,

Lawyer

Ultimately, it comes down to what you agreed with the contractor and what both parties could expect from each other. In this respect, incorrect references or errors in a contract do not necessarily have binding consequences if it can be demonstrated in another way what agreements you made and both of you intended to confirm. An e-mail can provide sufficient evidence in this respect that you made different agreements. This would be different if the contractor can demonstrate that you both consciously made different agreements afterwards and that there was therefore no question of a mistake. In addition, you can always object to an invoice if it is incorrect (and work has not been carried out). A debt collection agency may not blindly collect everything if you come up with a counter-story. This must first be examined further. Please feel free to contact me via my profile if you have any questions or require legal assistance.