Builder charges debt against house?

paulsvan

I recently had to check a Land Registry document as we want to have a garage built on our property.

While talking to the Registry it became apparent that a builder who had worked on our house in the past had placed a claim against it in lieu of payment.

To fill you in on the background story:
This pertains to a loft conversion we commissioned in late 2010. We chose this builder as he promised the work was straightforward and would be completed in 3 months. We were needing the room for expansion as we foster children and were expecting another child to join the family - the income from the placement would cover the work over time so we knew we could claw back the investment eventually.

In the event 70% of the works were completed in 3 months and we were left with a bare shell of a conversion and lots of issues with building control because the builder/architect/building control communications were poor and things hadn't been done correctly.

Under guidance from building control I continued to work on the interior but the loft could not be signed off (or used as a room) for nearly 9 months - while the builder attended to structural issues he was responsible for. After 9 months he returned to install the last required part of the puzzle - roof vents (again he argued for months with BC over these) and after a day demanded full payment of £15,000 on top of £4,000 we had already paid for - not the agreed final price.

Also works he had carried out proved to cause problems in the 9 month period he neglected to finish the works. We had leaking gutters, water ingress into the house and damaged walls and ceilings as a result.

When we confronted him about these issues he became abusive and I had to remove him from the home. This was embarrassing as we had small children and social workers present at the time. I instructed him to come up with a revised bill and to attend to the faults outlined. I didn't hear from him again by phone or letter.

The turmoil this episode caused us has only recently been resolved with expensive repairs to outer and inner walls, ceilings and redecoration. Still I have had no communication with the builder. As he hasn't come up with an updated agreement I am not in a position to settle the outstanding work.

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So now I find I have a £15,000 claim against the house. I haven't been notified of it, never had a court notice (I assume from reading this is usual) and nobody has ever called to make me aware of it.

How do I go about contesting this claim and settling this once and for all?

I have papers for the loft conversion and can supply photos of damage caused, repairs/structural works necessary as well as statements from other builders/engineers/BC employees I have had to deal with to fix his shoddy work.

I feel it unfair that an uncommunicative cowboy builder can try to con me/wreck my home and then claim thousands more than the original quote against my property.

Any advice welcomed.

Tixy

You'd first need to find out if the builder has a CCJ against you, that when unpaid he subsequently applied for a charging order. So first check for a CCJ - either by the registery trust online (£8) or by getting a copy of your credit file.

If he didn't obtain a CCJ then another possibility might be that he has forged your signature on a document giving consent to a charge being placed on your house (or got you to sign it without realising?).

ValHaller

Wot Tixy says but first step get a copy of the document authorising the charge from the Land Registry - then you will be able to work back from there.