Conservatory company has gone into liquidation - help!

Hintza

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Because he would owe them the money. Or do you not think the creditors have a right to be paid?

You owe them nothing more until the contract is complete to a satisfactory standard and the warranty in place and I wouldn't be giving a fig about the creditors, the creditors are not the OPs concern at all (bar 1).

The only creditor the OP is interested in is the UFH company who I imagine will not complete until they have been paid (at least some money now).

ThumbRemote

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Because he would owe them the money. Or do you not think the creditors have a right to be paid?

Utter rubbish. The OP has contracted the company to provide a conservatory, which they have failed to do.

They were not contracted to provide half a conservatory for half the money.

Flyboy152

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Utter rubbish. The OP has contracted the company to provide a conservatory, which they have failed to do.

They were not contracted to provide half a conservatory for half the money.

And if the company no longer exists, the administrators have every right to pursue the OP for money owed; which will include work to date. That is how it works. Contract building work is modular, it is billed at various stages and payment will be expected at each stage.

Flyboy152

Hintza wrote: »

You owe them nothing more until the contract is complete to a satisfactory standard and the warranty in place and I wouldn't be giving a fig about the creditors, the creditors are not the OPs concern at all (bar 1).

The only creditor the OP is interested in is the UFH company who I imagine will not complete until they have been paid (at least some money now).

And this is one of the problem our economy is facing. Selfishness.

What is happening all over the country and quite probably this company itself, is that people are not paying what they owe. This company is quite likely waiting for money for work done and is the very reason why they have gone bust.

vax2002

If the administrators contact you, send them an invoice in return for the work up to the point you have paid, they will soon ignore you.

Flyboy152

vax2002 wrote: »

If the administrators contact you, send them an invoice in return for the work up to the point you have paid, they will soon ignore you.

That makes no sense. How can the OP send them an invoice? He nas not spent any money, nor has he done any work.

Jess

Thanks for all the replies.
Regarding a retention - I agree that it should have been agreed at the start but I was unhappy with some aspects of the work and at present I still have a leak which they were unable to solve. I feel I would have been within my rights (morally if not legally)to withhold a small amount until I was satisfied that the leak was solved. I was NOT trying to pull a fast one but I was also not prepared to pay all the money for something I wasn't completely happy with.

Comment about paying in cash - everything has been paid by cheque so I have a record with the bank if necessary.

I have now been told by the liquidator 'If there is work to be completed I suggest you negotiate new contracts with other suppliers/former sub-contractors.' so I guess I can go ahead and pay the underfloor heating company directly, although the liquidators have not confirmed that they will not come back to me for the outstanding cash. I will argue with them that if I don't get my guarantee then the value of the contract should be less.

Whole thing is a bit of a mess. Went with what I thought was a reputable company which had been trading for a number of years and this happened. Apparently directors are planning to start up under a slightly different name - what a surprise.

Probably a naive question but is there any way of finding out how secure a company is before going into business with them?

Hintza

Flyboy152 wrote: »

And this is one of the problem our economy is facing. Selfishness.

There is nothing selfish about it. All building works will have snagging issues (a leak being one in this case). To get another set of tradesmen in to complete someone else's half finished job will cost more than was originally allowed in the initial contract. The OP also has the lack of guarantee which I imagine would be worth 5%-15% of the contract.

As thumbsremote says the OP has paid in stages for conservatory not half a one and until the works are complete and full remedial works know then the OP should pay nothing more.

Evilm

Jess wrote: »

Probably a naive question but is there any way of finding out how secure a company is before going into business with them?

Its not a naive question actually. To be honest the answer is no. No. You can Google for complaints to see if they have a track history of issues. (And check this forum of course).

Businesses usually pay for access to a Credit Checking facility for other Businesses to assess risk of suppliers and customers but to be honest even that isn't a great indicator. Some businesses that trade very well and are safe to deal with have very low credit ratings and are presented as a high risk. Some businesses that are given good ratings on these facilities shut down with little notice despite their apparent secure position.

If you want to check if something is already in progress for a company (such as administration or winding up petition) you can check here: http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/ Choose the correct one for the area in question (I believe Wales still comes under London/England) and search for the company name. don't worry about documents being filed (which will be the ones which come up with a whole list of names in the entry and have codes like C1 or D2) but look for ones where it is the only company mentioned. Phrases to note are "notice to creditors" "administrators appointed" "petition to wind up" etc.

Companies house is also good for general company information for limited companies: http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/c723aa0bfa822d58c35e49806d118a43/wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo

You can get accounts from there if you pay a small fee but again past performance doesn't necessarily predict future performance. Also a lot of 'stable' or 'creditworthy' businesses can look 'book insolvent' (as someone once described a company to me - basically it means they have much fewer assets on paper than liabilities) and it isn't always a strong indicator.

Evilm

Jess wrote: »

I have now been told by the liquidator 'If there is work to be completed I suggest you negotiate new contracts with other suppliers/former sub-contractors.' so I guess I can go ahead and pay the underfloor heating company directly, although the liquidators have not confirmed that they will not come back to me for the outstanding cash. I will argue with them that if I don't get my guarantee then the value of the contract should be less./QUOTE]

The Liquidators will be cagey about this - getting the phrase "full and final settlement" out of the liquidators/administrators is like blood out of a stone. They don't like to agree not to pursue money if they can avoid it just in case. It can be very annoying to deal with.

I would get it in writing if you haven't already as even without confirmation that they won't pursue you for the balance having the "suggestion" will help you if they do try to appoint a collector to get the rest of the funds or contact you themselves later. (The collector probably won't 'buy the debt for pennies on the pound' btw - they will probably be paid on a % of money collected basis. That is a whole other fun discussion!)