Builder bankrupt - about to lose £7000!

moggsy

Hi all, the first thread I've started but unfortunately it's not a happy one.

I'm about to have an extension built and my builder has phoned me tonight to inform me that his company is being liquidated! He told me to stop the deposit cheque for £7000 I gave him on Friday but I've tried to and First Direct are telling me the money has already left my account so they can't get it back!

So I'm now just one of the people he owes money to - with Jewsons being the main creditor (it's their lawyers have shut him down).

Has anybody else had experience of this? What are the chances of me getting my money back?

dakirk

If it is a compulsory liquidation

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/compulsoryliquidation/owedmoneycompany.htm

moggsy

dakirk wrote:

If it is a compulsory liquidation

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/compulsoryliquidation/owedmoneycompany.htm

Thanks for the above link. Looks like I'm screwed!

If it had happened a day earlier I would have been able to stop the cheque. As it stands it looks like my money is going to be swallowed up to pay off the builders other debts.

I think I'm going to go away and cry in a quiet corner somewhere...

davsidipp

did you give the cheque before any works was done ? surely he had an idea he was going bankrupt it does not happen overnight.

littlepockets

depending who the cheque was made payable to try and identify if there is any property (office/home) you can put a charging order absolute against. Fairly easy process to get a charging order which basically means you have a claim against their property once sold.

Worth a try

going2die_rich

Could you not ask him to send it back. Simply say the work has been cancelled as you no longer require it. If you never signed a contract he might be able to do it for you as if he phoned to tell you to cancel it he might be nice enough to return it as I dout he wants to drag anyone down with him.

moggsy

dakirk - the cheque was for the deposit - not the full amount so I had to pay this upfront. Sneakily though after I haggled the price down a bit the builder said he'd do it for that price if I paid a double deposit i.e. 20%. In hindsight this was a bad move on my part - he knew he had a cash flow problem so he was getting as much money up front as he could.

littlepockets - thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately the cheque was made out to his limited company which is now in liquidation - so I'm now just one of the creditors.

Some hopefully good news on this though. I spoke to my bank again (for the third time) and was a little more persistent and finally got through to someone who knew what they were talking about! They've managed to recall the cheque so I should get my money back tomorrow - fingers crossed. Apparently they wouldn't have been able to recall the cheque if it had been after 11.30am but I'd phoned them at 10.45am so was ok!

Talk about skin of your teeth - I only hope the recall goes through ok...
:undecided

asharon

i hope you get it back

moggsy

The money is back in my account!

:j

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. Greatly appreciated.

Katie_Bell

Congratulations! :beer:

V_Chic_Chick

Great! :beer: :T