Contractor saying he won't pay until client pays him

CPallett_2

Hi all

I have done some maintenance work for a Company and sent my invoice in. I was told at the beginning that invoices will get paid a week in lieu and I am now being told the customer is not paying there invoice and so until that happens I will not get paid, and may not get paid at all.

Can he do this? I did not have a contract, just payment terms above and rate of pay in an email.

Thanks

DCodd

CPallett wrote: »

Hi all

I have done some maintenance work for a Company and sent my invoice in. I was told at the beginning that invoices will get paid a week in lieu and I am now being told the customer is not paying there invoice and so until that happens I will not get paid, and may not get paid at all.

Can he do this? I did not have a contract, just payment terms above and rate of pay in an email.

Thanks

What sector of business are you and your client in?

I know that paid when paid clauses are illegal in the construction industry not so sure about other industries though.

Acc72

Your contract is with the Company (the contract between the Company and their end user is nothing to do with you).

My advice would be to deal with this in writing only (with this type of thing I always post a hard copy (registered post) and also scan and e-mail a copy to the person responsible - to remove any excuses of not being received).

Firstly, I would write (enclosing an additional copy of the invoice) asking for payment as agreed.

Make sure that the invoice contains all of the relevant information (eg. purchase order number, name or person, date and detail of jobs etc.) to remove any reason for non payment.

If payment is not received within 7 days, write to them again (making reference to your first letter) and requesting immediate payment.

If payment is not received within 7 days, then this is where it can get tricky and may affect your future trading relationship.

Depending on how you want to take it, do a Google search for "Seven day Letter" which states that despite your previous requests you have still not received payment and that if payment is not received within 7 days you will commence legal action without further notice. (if you "threaten" to do this, then you must do this on day 8 - please Google search for Money claim online HMCS. It is really easy to do (and easliy can be cancelled or undone if the company pay you) and inexpensive (it was around £50 but may be a bit more now).

If you get to this stage then it is unlikely that the company will require your services in future, but then again if you don't do this then you may not get paid (also, you don't want to go through this rigmorole every time an invoice is due for payment).

Finally - are there other invoices outstanding for payment ? - are continuing to do work for this company ?

CPallett_2

I am a qualified plumber but do maintenance/ handyman work.

I have already resent the invoices stating they need to be paid in a certain time and the guy has come back and said due to the bad workmanship he is struggling to get paid from the customer and will only pay me if he gets paid, oh and when he gets paid if there is anything left over for me!!

He owes me two invoices. No I have stopped working for him as he wasn't paying any invoices.

DCodd

CPallett wrote: »

I am a qualified plumber but do maintenance/ handyman work.

I have already resent the invoices stating they need to be paid in a certain time and the guy has come back and said due to the bad workmanship he is struggling to get paid from the customer and will only pay me if he gets paid, oh and when he gets paid if there is anything left over for me!!

He owes me two invoices. No I have stopped working for him as he wasn't paying any invoices.

Was there any bad workmanship? If so, by you?

CPallett_2

No by another subcontractor

Mistral001

To state the obvious, your contract is with the contractor and not the client so it is irrelevant whether the contractor gets paid.


But....... we live in the real world of business and you have to read behind the lines as to what is going on here. Basically the contractor has put you down the pecking order. Also it is a contractor who has admitted to you that he is in trouble with a client. So it looks like not only are you you are considered not very important by this contractor, you are working for a pretty cr*p contractor.

Now do not get disillusioned. It happens. It happens to the best of us. Some people we work for are good customers and others are not.

Be persistant. Do not argue points of law with him as that will give him the impression that you are not to sure of the law in this regard. As long as you did not mess up this job you did for the contractor he owes you the money. That is it.

Be persistant. Send in a reminder every month for as long as it takes to get your money. Start ringing up every month after a few months as well as sending reminder. Be formal and polite and if he repeats the rubbish about not paying you until he gets paid or any other excuse that he dreams up, listen but do not enter into a discussion about it. Just say you will leave it with him. If he has not paid in 6 months consider court proceedings perhaps.

PS. When the contractor realises that you are very sure of your ground you will go up in his pecking order, but he is still going to reamin a fairly cr*p contractor.

DCodd

CPallett wrote: »

No by another subcontractor

OK need to know the backgroud of the contract between you and the Contractor.

Are they the property owner or a contractor or a managing agent?

Are they CIS registered and are you? And do you have a CSCS card?

Was there a written contract?

How big a company are they?

CPallett_2

Mistral001 wrote: »

To state the obvious, your contract is with the contractor and not the client so it is irrelevant whether the contractor gets paid.


But....... we live in the real world of business and you have to read behind the lines as to what is going on here. Basically the contractor has put you down the pecking order. Also it is a contractor who has admitted to you that he is in trouble with a client. So it looks like not only are you working for a pretty cr*p contractor but that you are considered not very important by this contractor.

Now do not get disillusioned. It happens. Be persistant. Do not argue points of law with him as that will give hime the impression that you are not to sure of the law in this regard.

As long as you did not mess up this job you did for the contractor he owes you the money. That is it. Be persistant. Send in a reminder every month for as long as it takes to get your money. Be formal and polite. If you are talking to him and he repeats the rubbish about not paying you until he gets paid, listen but do not respond. Just say I will leave it with you.

Thanks for your advice however I get the feeling that unless I take stronger action this guy will never pay. I have now realised he does not run a very professional business. He thinks he is perfectly within his rights to not pay me, he even wanted me to go back and rectify the other guys mistakes and has said it was unprofessional that I didn't.

CPallett_2

DCodd wrote: »

OK need to know the backgroud of the contract between you and the Contractor.

Are they the property owner or a contractor or a managing agent?

Are they CIS registered and are you? And do you have a CSCS card?

Was there a written contract?

How big a company are they?

They are a handyman company, they get jobs from private households and me and other handymen go and do them.

I am CIS registered but do not have a CSCS card.

No written contract, just emails as to how I will get paid (a week in lieu after receipt of invoice) and rate of pay

Not a very big company, only have 3 other handymen on the book and a couple of office staff

DCodd

CPallett wrote: »

They are a handyman company, they get jobs from private households and me and other handymen go and do them.

I am CIS registered but do not have a CSCS card.

No written contract, just emails as to how I will get paid (a week in lieu after receipt of invoice) and rate of pay

Not a very big company, only have 3 other handymen on the book and a couple of office staff

OK, in that case ask them for a written notice of what they will pay and reasons for witholding the full payment. Ask if any of your work was substandard, if so will the give you the opportunity to rectify the work.

If they do not respond or just repeat the pay when paid statement, issue a 7 day letter, once the 7 days are up issue a Statutory Demand or a small claims which ever you feel most comfortable with. Statutory Demand link below.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/CourtClaimsAndBankruptcy/DG_187711

I'm not sure if the Construction Act would apply in this case as the work is within a Domestic residence but it may be worth seeking advice regarding this (CAB thread, office or someone more knowledgable here) as the Construction Act is a very powerfull tool for debt collection.