Can they cash my year old cheque which I forgot to cancel, but reissued?

steelyweely

First time poster - hope this is the most appropriate section!

A year ago we got some work done on our bathroom, by a small company, main contact with a nice, friendly guy. We gave him a deposit cheque of £1,000, a few weeks later he had not cashed it, so we contacted him, apparently he had lost it, so we wrote another which he cashed.
Work completed almost one year ago, balance paid, all hunkydory even rec'd him to my brother.

(Though with my brother's bathroom he was unreliable and in the end took eight months to install a mirror my brother had paid for, didn't answer calls or emails etc...)

Now today, one year later, we find we are overdrawn because he has cashed the original £1k deposit cheque!!! He isn't answering his phone (ok its Friday night, its August so may well be away...) and its SO frustrating!!!

I guess we should have cancelled the cheque but we trusted him. I'm reasonably confident that when we get in contact with him he'll give us our money back, but should our bank have paid the cheque?
Phoned HSBC (our bank) but guy on the phone did not seem to really understand us, and said that if the bank accepted it thats it.

apt

Although banks often say they will not usually cash cheques older than six months there is no comeback if they do. They are legally valid for something like 6 years. You do of course have a claim you can pursue against the rogue tradesman.

masterlumps

steelyweely wrote: »

First time poster - hope this is the most appropriate section!

A year ago we got some work done on our bathroom, by a small company, main contact with a nice, friendly guy. We gave him a deposit cheque of £1,000, a few weeks later he had not cashed it, so we contacted him, apparently he had lost it, so we wrote another which he cashed.
Work completed almost one year ago, balance paid, all hunkydory even rec'd him to my brother.

(Though with my brother's bathroom he was unreliable and in the end took eight months to install a mirror my brother had paid for, didn't answer calls or emails etc...)

Now today, one year later, we find we are overdrawn because he has cashed the original £1k deposit cheque!!! He isn't answering his phone (ok its Friday night, its August so may well be away...) and its SO frustrating!!!

I guess we should have cancelled the cheque but we trusted him. I'm reasonably confident that when we get in contact with him he'll give us our money back, but should our bank have paid the cheque?
Phoned HSBC (our bank) but guy on the phone did not seem to really understand us, and said that if the bank accepted it thats it.

why are you confident he will give you the money back? if he was that decent he wouldnt have banked the cheque in the first place

steelyweely

... because I think he is unreliable in the forgetful sense, not the screwing his customers on purpose sense.
We also know where he lives! (a couple of streets away).
Maybe my trusting nature.
Hope!

sassy_one

You should pop in to your own branch or call them, as most banks say that after 6 months they will often refuse to honour a cheque.

You can of course, request to cancel 'Stop' the cheque, if you think you had a rogue tradesman.

However, if they have already taken the money, this proves a different story...

Mikeyorks

steelyweely wrote: »

but should our bank have paid the cheque?

The definitive answer :-

http://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/faqs/-/page/is_it_true_that_cheques_are_only_valid_for_six_months/

........ roughly translated means 'possibly or possibly not'? So there's no comeback on your Bank.

In my experience of 'friendly and local' tradesmen - you'll get the funds back with not much problem. Otherwise if you've got the invoices - and you can certainly get the correctly paid cheques as evidence - threats of the local claims court normally works.

happymonkey40

Im afraid unless you had called the bank previously to place a stop on the cheque, even after 6 months the cheque can be paid out. I am sure that cheques can be valid up to 6 years. If you had placed a stop on the cheque and the bank had paid it, you would then have been entitled to a refund, but if you have not, i am sure you will not get anything back, sorry to be giving you bad news.:(

chexum

It looks like the bank may not be interested in getting the money back to you - however I'm sure the guy is responsible for returning it. He's not entitled to the deposit once more after being paid already. It may be what I read as "unjust enrichment" somewhere around. If you can't get him to agree, you may want to talk someone versed in law though...

preable

Yea why so confident about getting the mne back if he was that nice he wouldnt have cashed it in the first place.

pipsi_2

If he doesn't admit the error when you ask him about it and offer to give you the money back (plus any charges you may incur on your bank account) then threaten him with a small claims court. If that doesn't work take him to court to recover the money. Make sure you write to him though and keep copies of all of the letters you send him, if he only lives around the corner it might be worth hand delivering the letter so you know it got there or send it by recorded post so you have proof that you sent it if it gets to the court stage. I'm sure there are template letters around and guidance on timescales (ie how much time you should give him to repay the money before taking court action) to help you out if you need it.