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Kentucky

Kentucky · home improvement

Your rights in Kentucky

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

If they came to your home and you signed there ($25+)

Cancel in writing by midnight of the third business day; a mailed notice counts when you mail it. Money back within 10 days.

Some sales are excepted, such as emergency work you ask for, once it has begun.

The 3 exceptions, in the rule's words
  • Emergency: you asked the seller to provide the goods or services without delay because of an emergency, and the seller in good faith made a substantial beginning of the work before you gave notice (for goods, also only if they cannot be returned in substantially as good condition as received).
  • Sales under $25.
  • Any insurance sale; and, when the seller is (or is an affiliate of) a business licensed by, registered with or regulated by the Kentucky Department of Insurance, sales of service contracts to repair, replace or maintain consumer products and sales of goods or services related to insurance or to such a service contract.
Read the full rule

When it applies

A home solicitation sale of $25 or more: the seller (or someone acting for the seller) personally solicited the sale at your home and you signed or gave your offer there. The statute excludes "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 ... are offered or exhibited for sale."

If the seller came to your home and you signed there (for $25 or more), you can cancel in writing until midnight of the third business day after you sign; a mailed notice counts from the moment you mail it, properly addressed with postage paid. The seller must return your payments within 10 days. If the seller did not give you a signed, dated agreement with the required "BUYER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL" notice, you can cancel in any manner until the seller does. Separately, if the job is to be paid from a property or casualty insurance claim, you can cancel until midnight of the fifth business day after your insurer tells you in writing that all or part of the claim is not covered.

Kentucky Revised Statutes · read on apps.legislature.ky.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: KY law

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 5 in writing before you sign.

  • Buyer's right to cancel noticeIf they sold it at your home: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the sale was solicited at your home (and is not emergency work you asked for): a written agreement that you sign, dated the day you actually sign it, carrying a statement under the caption "BUYER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL" that says you may cancel by mailing a notice before midnight of the third business day after you sign, and the address to mail it to.

  • Contact details firstIf insurance pays for the work: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the work is expected to be paid from property or casualty insurance, before you sign the contractor must give you its mailing address, its phone number and, if it has them, its fax number and email address.

  • 5-day insurance cancel noticeIf insurance pays for the work: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the work is expected to be paid from property or casualty insurance: a notice in at least 10-point bold type that you may cancel before midnight of the fifth business day after the insurer tells you in writing that all or part of the work is not a covered loss.

  • No assignment of insuranceIf insurance pays for the work: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the work is expected to be paid from property or casualty insurance: a notice in at least 10-point bold type that the contract cannot assign or transfer your duties, rights or benefits under the insurance policy in violation of KRS 304.20-105.

  • Notice of cancellation formIf insurance pays for the work: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the work is expected to be paid from property or casualty insurance: a fully completed "NOTICE OF CANCELLATION" form in duplicate, attached to the contract but easy to detach, in at least 10-point bold type.

On signing day

  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources35 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • Deposit: no Kentucky statute was found that limits the deposit or down payment on residential home improvement contracts in general, so depositCap is null. The Attorney General's Home Repair and Improvement page only advises being "very wary of making sizable deposits or advance payments" and paying by the percentage of work completed. The app must not state a Kentucky cap or infer one from another state.
  • Insurance-funded work (KRS 367.620 to 367.628, amended by 2025 Ky. Acts ch. 15 for contracts from June 27, 2025 and 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 54 for contracts from July 15, 2026): a contractor may not require any advance payment until the 5-business-day cancellation period after the insurer's written notice (KRS 367.622) has expired, and must return payments, deposits and notes within 10 days after a cancellation (KRS 367.626). This is a condition, not a cap, so depositCap stays null. A contractor who did repair or emergency work under a contract that becomes unenforceable may collect a reasonable and customary amount for it (KRS 367.626(3)). KRS 367.628 also bars the contractor from representing or negotiating for you on the insurance claim (as a public adjuster or otherwise), offering to pay or rebate the deductible, giving you compensation over $100, and filing a mechanic's lien against you for charges above what the insurer pays. These rules cover residential and commercial real estate (KRS 367.620).
  • Registration: Kentucky has no statewide general contractor or home improvement contractor license or registration, so registration is null. 2026 HB 300, which would have created a contractor license under the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction (DHBC), shows no action after it was sent to committee on 01/16/26 (legislature record page, last updated 8/19/2026). KRS 198B.702 (as amended effective July 15, 2026) refers to an individual who holds 'a license from a political subdivision as a tradesperson or home builder' and to a person 'not subject to licensure by the Commonwealth' who provides remodeling or repair estimates, so a city or county may have its own contractor license; the app should tell homeowners to check locally rather than say no license is needed. The DHBC home page says it licenses or certifies plumbers, electricians, boiler contractors, sprinkler and/or fire alarm contractors and building inspectors, and Kentucky Business OneStop says DHBC administers licensing for HVAC, plumbing, boilers, electrical, elevators, manufactured housing and sprinkler systems.
  • Disaster rule (KRS 367.379, in force from July 15, 2026): when a declared state of emergency causes destruction to real estate, the Attorney General may order contractors doing roofing or siding repair or replacement, water damage mitigation or restoration, or tree or debris removal in the designated area to register with the AG for a period the AG sets. Registered contractors must post the certificate at each job site in the area and give a copy on request to customers, local officials and peace officers. This registration applies only while an AG order is in effect and is not a standing statewide registration. Subsection (4) also bars these contractors from soliciting in person in the designated area for 90 days after the emergency is declared without the owner's prior approval (owner-requested visits, public advertising and phone or digital contact are allowed); the text does not say clearly whether that ban applies when no AG order has been issued. The AG's Contractor Registration Program page describes local emergency contractor registration programs run with Mayfield/Graves County, Princeton/Caldwell County, Dawson Springs/Hopkins County and Bremen/Muhlenberg County, whose registered contractors must display placards on job sites and vehicles.
  • Cancellation wording: the AG page says you have three business days to cancel contracts from a home solicitation sale of $25 or more 'and/or which result in a lien against the home', and tells you to send written notice 'within three days'. The statute (KRS 367.420) says until midnight of the third business day after you sign, and gives a separate 10-business-day right only for home solicitation loans secured by your principal dwelling (KRS 367.420(6), tied to the federal Truth in Lending Act). The app should use the statute's wording. KRS 367.410 to 367.460 do not define 'business day'.
  • Under KRS 367.450(3), a seller who performed services before a home solicitation sale was cancelled gets no compensation. Any waiver of the home solicitation rights is void (KRS 367.460).
  • The excluded-sales clause in KRS 367.410 can be read more than one way (whether 'prior negotiations' must have happened by phone or at a business). appliesWhen quotes it word for word instead of rewording it. The app should not tell a homeowner they are excluded only because there were earlier talks.
  • The federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule was not used because Kentucky has its own home solicitation cancellation right. The federal rule was not checked for this entry.
  • Contract contents the AG's Home Repair and Improvement page recommends but that no statute found in this review requires: the contractor's name, address, license number and phone number; your name, address and phone number; a clear statement of the total cost and terms of payment; a complete description of the work; material specifications (size, weight, quantity, color); your written approval for changes; a requirement that the contractor carry workers' compensation and public liability insurance; a requirement that the contractor obtain all appropriate building and zoning permits; the starting date and approximate completion date; who cleans up afterwards; a warranty provision and a guarantee on the materials used; a statement identifying subcontractors and material supplied; a pledge that materials are free of all liens by suppliers; and both signatures with no blanks left. Because Kentucky has no statewide general contractor license, a 'license number' may be a local license or a state trade license (HVAC, plumbing, electrical).
  • Statute pages on apps.legislature.ky.gov are served as PDFs. Their text was extracted and read directly on 2026-10-04. The AG pages, the HB 300 record page and the DHBC and OneStop pages loaded normally.
  • Independent verification on 2026-10-04 re-fetched every cited page and re-read each statute. Also checked and found not to be a home improvement deposit cap: KRS 371.160 (retainage escrow, only for contracts of $2,000,000 or more) and 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 172 (HB 355, real property appraisers), which amended KRS 198B.702 but created no contractor license.

General information from official Kentucky sources. For your situation, ask the state's consumer protection office or a lawyer.

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