Taking legal action against house builders? Right course of action?

melanieconway

Morning all.:D

I bought a new house in 2007 from Bellway and have had nothing but problems and wanted to run something by you for opinions.

It's the usual, snagging list that grew and grew and the builder's dedication to resolving it has been none existent to say the least. It covers a number of the areas in my home, joinery, electrics etc etc. Not only that but I've had to take holidays off work to supervise useless foremen who take measurements (and lose them), orders that have gone in for relacement parts that never materialised, repairmen that only do half the job etc...

I have bags of emails and letters that I have sent them and some letters in return admitting they have messed up (and still not rectified!).

A classic example. I have a number of faults with the glazing and joinery (blown DG units, door furniture that had no durability etc), they said new door furniture had been ordered. It never came. They measured up for new glass. Lost the measurements, then had to come round again at my inconvenience. The topper was when they replaced my front door and frame only to replace it incorrectly so that the door is a struggle to lock as they haven't hung it properly, the door isn't sitting flush so there is a gap and hence a bid draught (I can see daylight coming through), and in all this process they broke my door bell and haven't replaced it.

I was thinking about getting a local company to come and quote me for replacement door furniture, new door bell, replacement glass, remove and refit door frame. I thought the best course of action was legal as they're just not shifting (due to apathy rather than them thinking I'm in the wrong) and I don't have the time to be writing/phoning them every day, I have a job to do!

I have Family Legal Protection on my home insurance but it doesn't cover this, I'm pretty certain. So I thought the best thing would be to take one area (joinery in this case), and instigate a small claims court action. It will be under £5000 for the claim and I will probably throw in some additionals for the time off work I've lost as a result (not sure if I can do this), and the increased heating bills as a result of the draughty hallway (it's freezing in winter and the wind getting through the door doesn't help).

I know the £5000 claim won't cover everything on my snag list, but it would cover the joinery aspect. Plus if they know I'm serious (I've threatened legal action a number of times but never followed through), it might make them remove their finger out of their orifices and crack on with the rest of the snagging list if they think there's a danger of further action for other areas.

Before anyone responds and quotes using the NHBC, don't. They only really cover high level faults. As far as I'm aware, regarding snagging they can only 'nag' the house builder to sort it, I don't think they inflict any recourse. Plus the NHBC haven't even registered our house yet..but that's another c**k up to sort!

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, wasn't sure which one to post in.

Mel

muckybutt

I would contact a solicitor, outline all the faults to them, then get them to type a letter up to Bellway listing the faults and a deadline for remedy of the listed faults, state that after the deadline has lapsed and they still havent done the work then you will instigate legal action against them.

I would give them 28 days to complete the works and sign them off to your satisfaction.

melanieconway

Hi muckybutt. I know I haven't used a solicitor previously but I have given them a full schedule (over a year ago) with generous time frames for sorting some things out.

The whole issue is I haven't got money for a solicitor or I would have already gone down that route, unless I'm missing something? I guess there's a chance the FLP will cover a letter but I'm not sure they will cos building work of this nature is not covered.

Leif

Solicitors can cost £200 per hour, or more, and charge per letter received, and sent.

DVardysShadow

Up to £15000 you can sue for yourself in the small claims court. But before you do, you need to give them a final opportunity to put things right. Then you need to arrive at a schedule of losses for which you are suing.

Now, I think that the best way to go about this would be to give them the whole list of jobs outstanding but choose a fairly sizeable job where they are clearly in the wrong and write to give them one last opportunity to fix it before you get your own contractor in. And tell them you will sue them for the costs of rectification if they do not sort out this problem in 28 days.

Then go ahead, get the job done, pay for it and send them a copy of the invoice, giving them 14 days to pay and an opportunity to fix the other jobs. After that, sue for the job you paid for and repeat the process with the other jobs.

melanieconway

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Up to £15000 you can sue for yourself in the small claims court. But before you do, you need to give them a final opportunity to put things right. Then you need to arrive at a schedule of losses for which you are suing.

Now, I think that the best way to go about this would be to give them the whole list of jobs outstanding but choose a fairly sizeable job where they are clearly in the wrong and write to give them one last opportunity to fix it before you get your own contractor in. And tell them you will sue them for the costs of rectification if they do not sort out this problem in 28 days.

Then go ahead, get the job done, pay for it and send them a copy of the invoice, giving them 14 days to pay and an opportunity to fix the other jobs. After that, sue for the job you paid for and repeat the process with the other jobs.

Hi DaVardy

Yes thanks, this is what I was getting at. The windows/doors thing would be the sizeable job. However, I don't think I can afford to get that amount of work rectified. I was going to do just that with a view that once I got one legal success that they might be scare mongered into doing the rest without much prompting.

I thought the money claims online service was only up to about £5000 though? I'm not very au fait with the court process. I'm trying to minimise costs so guess I'll have to have a good read of the guides on here.

DVardysShadow

The small claims limit was increased recently, I believe.

moonrakerz

melanieconway wrote: »

Before anyone responds and quotes using the NHBC, don't.

Totally agree - the most useless organisation under the sun !