One of our charity’s young people secured a grant to deliver dance workshops with girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. The local library service was our partner in this project: they were responsible for recruiting participants and booking a venue for the workshops. A couple of days before the project was due to start, they had not yet secured a venue and, as the adult in charge, I took over this task at the last minute.

I booked sessions over 8 weeks in a local community hall and was duly forwarded a contract by the local council. The official in charge of bookings explained that there was an absolute requirement for the council to possess a signed contract before allowing any party to use its hall facilities. We needed to use the hall by the following evening and, after much complaining about how inconvenient all of this was to him, he finally agreed to let us use the hall without a written contract in place - he would send me a copy to sign and return to him by the following week. I agreed to this in an email message.

On the first evening of workshops we discovered that the library service had failed to recruit any participants in that area which was disappointing for the young person, who was delivering her first project. Before the next session, a local school offered us the use of their hall (at a much lower rate than the overpriced community hall) as well as the commitment from several of their pupils who were interested in participating. I immediately agreed and that same week the workshops were fully subscribed and, at the final public performance three months later, the project turned out to be a big local success.

Annoyed as I was with the unhelpful council official, I refrained from signing and returning the contract to him. In the course of events, however, I forgot to actually cancel use of the hall. Several weeks later I received an invoice for 8 weeks worth of hall hire. I protested to the council but was told that even in the absence of a signed contract I had agreed (in an email) to use the hall so the charges stand.

Are we really liable for these charges? I feel that we should only pay for the first evening's use of the hall but, before I do so, I would like to know what the legal implications of doing so will be.