Is it illegal to commission work without funds to pay it?

Armorica

Not entirely. Depending on the size of the gap, if it's extreme might be able to get something like entering into a contract in bad faith.

Or as another said, it's illegal to trade while insolvent. But start-ups and small companies can bump along the bottom for ages juggling cash-flow.

InsideInsurance

londonTiger wrote: »

no, you should have *some* trust in business. get payment up front. escrow is silly, you end up having to pay 10%+ to the middleman for doing nothing.

Ermm.... you should have trust in business hence get paid up front? That sounds like you have no trust not some

There are as many developers that run off with the money and never deliver as clients that never pay.

I agree with others that you should be looking at a staged payment plan. Assuming you arent just creating static content then also dont promote the site to live until you have received the final payment, obv if it is static then there is only so much you can do as they could steal the site from the test server and put it up online without you but at least from staged payments you've had the lions share of the monies

Mistral001

The client is being a little naïve in sharing the reasons for his non-payment. He might think that oh well blame it on the Government for not giving him the grant - you will understand. Or he might think that this is the way business works - you have to take chances on these sorts of things. Either way he is wrong. He is just someone who is a slow payer. Treat him as such and do not engage with him in any way other than to seek payment.