Getting money back from cowboy builders

Newbean

You do make me laugh Mike, i would like to say i really do hope that you are feeling better. God so many questions......i keep having to go back to the post to see em, i'll be here all night!!! Right the two charges: he only owned a quarter of my property therefore he owed me money from the remortgage. that was for £10,000.the second charge for 15,000 was what he owed me personally. He is the sole owner. No children as far as i know. Equity, probably about £50,000. Not sure about court fees reimbursed, also he is so slipperry it scares mea little. No never agreed a payment plan, didn't know you could... He said he would rather burn the place down (nice fella eh) No i havn't been to the CAB yet can they really help?? He is entirely self employed although he may cange offices he always goes back to the same old. Yes i can prove he remortged my home and although i signed the papers i was in the middle of chemotherapy at the time and he wore me down. however he was only entitled the a third of the value. No we wasn't married, thank god. There is so much more to this story .... how long you got.... oh ok.
thanks for replying x

I had solicitors acting on my behalf and although i won the case it wsn't as much money as it should have been. Therefore all costs were awarded to him so he owes the sols money too. thats why i think they didn't want to take the case further. Also i would like to add that whenever i have been to the CAB they didn't seem to be able to help me much, not in this case but on other occasions. Please if anyone on this thread can help or throw up ideas i would be so grateful x

Big_Mac_TMMM

lisawaters wrote: »

OK that's four days of my life reading this post! Good thoughts all of them. There's a 'yes but' to some of them. Lazy reply in capitals below...

Thanks for "paying back the four days"! That really made me laugh. :rotfl: You are very funny. I see why you have your own "fan club".

I suppose it is easy to suggest having an ABTA-like body for houses, but the devil is in the detail. (I wasn't suggesting that councils control building, by the way. Sorry if I didn't explain that bit well.)

I don't have a house (of my own) but if you ever get someone to suggest a law that you think will work, give me a ping and I'll find out who my MP* is and ask them to back it.

* = Nope, I don't know who they are.:o

Oh, by the way, Mike. Seeing the way your house got improved reminded me of the time (when I was a kid) and the roof used to leak over my bedroom. I had to put a bowl under the drips that would come through the ceiling. We got the leak patched a lot of times, but it never lasted more than a couple of years.

But it wasn't that the leak I remembered. I remembered how weird it was, when my family got a grant to get the roof replaced and I would wake up panicking about leaks during the rain and then remember that the leak was fixed for good. Once I got used to the fact that the rain was not something I had to "wake up and deal with" I found I really could enjoy** the sound of rain. It sounds kind of nuts, as a lot of British people moan about rain, but I find the sound relaxing now. (I don't even mind it raining, when I am out, because I know my room will be dry when I come home.)

* = The novelty has worn off a lot since then, but I can still remember thinking how cool it was to be able to just lie in bed and listen to rain and not move stuff and hunt for bowls. :cool:

I know you said they told you things could be weird for a while, but I hope that you can enjoy the rain as much as I did.

lisawaters

Newbean wrote: »

You do make me laugh Mike, i would like to say i really do hope that you are feeling better. God so many questions......i keep having to go back to the post to see em, i'll be here all night!!! Right the two charges: he only owned a quarter of my property therefore he owed me money from the remortgage. that was for £10,000.the second charge for 15,000 was what he owed me personally. He is the sole owner. No children as far as i know. Equity, probably about £50,000. Not sure about court fees reimbursed, also he is so slipperry it scares mea little. No never agreed a payment plan, didn't know you could... He said he would rather burn the place down (nice fella eh) No i havn't been to the CAB yet can they really help?? He is entirely self employed although he may cange offices he always goes back to the same old. Yes i can prove he remortged my home and although i signed the papers i was in the middle of chemotherapy at the time and he wore me down. however he was only entitled the a third of the value. No we wasn't married, thank god. There is so much more to this story .... how long you got.... oh ok.
thanks for replying x

I had solicitors acting on my behalf and although i won the case it wsn't as much money as it should have been. Therefore all costs were awarded to him so he owes the sols money too. thats why i think they didn't want to take the case further. Also i would like to add that whenever i have been to the CAB they didn't seem to be able to help me much, not in this case but on other occasions. Please if anyone on this thread can help or throw up ideas i would be so grateful x

I'd look on Google for 'enforcing a charging order' - the HM Courts pages are good. CAB staff vary but I found them excellent. There are also independent organisations that will help you. Don't know where you are so can't suggest. Check on the court fee reimbursement - it's nice to feel you can go on at him forever for free. He sounds like a lovely bloke...

Butti

MatyMoo wrote: »

Enjoy Princess Sparkles, it is heart warming but you DO need several tissues

I needed a bucket for the DIY SOS the following week, just a tissue for Mike's. A happy ending and a beautiful house.

B x

lisawaters

Butti wrote: »

I needed a bucket for the DIY SOS the following week, just a tissue for Mike's. A happy ending and a beautiful house.

B x

That's not very loyal!

Mine was much more emotional.

Wasn't it, girls?


x

psychopathbabble

lisawaters wrote: »

That's not very loyal!

Mine was much more emotional.

Wasn't it, girls?


x

*Nods head vigorously*

Yes Mike, of course Mike. Whatever you say Mike.

I did think the same actually although I only shed one or two tears at the beginning when the boys were talking. I was with a friend though, perhaps if I had been on my own I might have shed a bucketload.

MatyMoo

What Nottingham beats Littlehampton???

I don't think so!!!!! Maybe it was the personal involvement, but it really was THE best episode EVER IMHO :j:j:j

Happytogetdebtfree

a quick hello as i am between nights :O eughhhh last one to do yipee i just want to ask is there a date for our group meet its that i would have to request in advance and i do not want to miss it a seconed time what months are we thinking ? is july good ? big hugs all mike yours was the best diy sos and its made my year knowing that the motto people helping people really is powerful stuff and it didnt involve anybodys cash it was pur heart and character xxx

greyfox

Just spotted this on the Freebie board. Thought it might be of use to someone. (Might not, of course, but you can but try!)

"As the title say's ask a solcitor a question, online, for free. Handy site to bookmark, they claim to give you an answer within the hour, but guessing it will depend on the time of day you ask the question.

http://www.rightsolicitor.co.uk/"

niccatw

miggy wrote: »

Like ABTA, but you get your house back instead of a return flight from Cancun?
Nice idea. :T
I think it should also apply to plumbers, electricians, joiners and anyone else employed in the building trade.

There are plenty of schemes out there attempting to do something like that. The scale of the industry makes it difficult and expensive to enforce.

It also makes it very difficult for the small, reputable, or fledgling businesses out there, as they need to cough up for that initially. The only way they can recoup, is to pass that cost on, so the quotes rise. They are then up against the big sharks who have the cash and the cushioning and can therefore quote more cheaply...

And, as Mike says, we all want the best we can can for as little as we can get it, so it becomes a bit murky.

Which is probably why they haven't figured out something within the industry that works, yet. I'd hazard a guess that most reputable tradesmen out there would welcome something, as they do not want tarred with the same brush as the cowboys! They need that protection too.

lisawaters wrote: »

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE CHARGE OF PREDETERMINED FRAUD USEABLE AGAINST BUILDERS WHO BECOME EMBROILED IN PROBLEMS, RATHER THAN IT BEING A CIVIL MATTER. THAT MIGHT MEAN THE BUILDER HAD TO PROVE HIS INNOCENCE AND THAT HIS WORK AND TRADING PRACTICES STAND UP TO INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT.

THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF WAYS TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM, BUT FEW WOULD BE POPULAR WITH THE CUSTOMERS AND THE SERVICE PROVIDERS.

I would agree. But I can also see it should work both ways. There are many tradesmen out there who have been conned by customers who never intended to pay. Ok, it's in reverse, but essentially they end up in the same situation as Mike finds himself in.

Princess_Sparkles wrote: »

Anyway, this is not a thread hijack!

:rotfl: Princess, I fear I may have hijacked Mike's thread many a time. And I will probably continue to do so. He's pretty inclusive that way! Only thing is, if you're talking nonsesne, he is likely to draw attention to it and you have to be quick to think of a smart alec response. :rotfl: