When a contractor breaks their contract.. and bills you

I recognize we'll probably have to get the lawyer involved in the end but I also wanted to get some other opinions from the more experienced people here.

Had a landscaping contract with an annual agreement and cost broken out into 12 payments, 1 each month.

The contract had this clause:

"Payment for services will by any payable by the 5th following the month of services. If balance is not received within one month of billing a interest fee of 2% will be issued monthly until balance is paid in full. Any extra services will be billed accordingly. Any services performed more than stated will be billed accordingly.
Contract can be void with a 30 day written notice if either party is unhappy with the arrangements stated above. Contract will renew yearly if both parties are content with arrangements listed above."

On Christmas Eve we received an email saying that they were closing down operations effective Jan 1 2022. Merry Christmas!

We've now received a bill for December that we're loath to pay. My suspicion is that even with the 30 day clause we can't tell them to pound sand.

Their 8 day notice was just icing on the feces cake they've been serving us for the last several months. To be more specific, they had a habit of not coming out or replying to emails/phone/text for weeks at a time.

I agree that you should probably pay the December bill and move on - assuming they are owed for services rendered. If you go the legal route, you may end up owing more than the December payment (not to mention spending a lot of time on it).

FYI: in my area this past year some landscaping contractors bailed with short notice because they weren't able to hire the necessary workers - I heard it was due to visa issues, but I have no first hand knowledge. The board had to scramble to find a new provider. Fortunately it was spring and not the middle of winter when were were up to our eyeballs in snow.

I assume you are paying the same amount every month for each of the 12 months to spread the overall cost of the annual contract evenly throughout the year . . . as opposed to having higher monthly payments during the busy times of the year when the weeding, mulching, lawn mowing, and turf treatments are being performed; and low to zero payments during months where no services are rendered.

In an arrangement where you pay the same amount every month for 12 payments, and in NC at this time of year, you are finally paying in December for services (that should have been) rendered earlier in the year.

That said, if you've been having service issues for the last few months, your opportunity to resolve those issues and potentially withhold or reduce payment has likely passed (assuming the past few months were paid in full). While I'm sure you are kicking yourselves that you didn't terminate the contract first, I'm not seeing a great angle for you at this point for withholding the last month's payment without going the legal route which may end up costing you both even more money than that payment will be.

You owe for December, so suggest just paying and being done with it as others have suggested. Then get on with revamping your landscaping specification and beginning the process of trying to find new companies who are interested in submitting proposals from which you can select your next company. Do a thorough job in selecting the new company to try and prevent similar service-related issues and working with a company that may not be around for the duration. Contract cost is not the only factor in determining who to select (not saying that's the case here, but always something to keep in mind).