Anyone able to offer some quick legal advice re small claims?

LadyoftheLakes_2

Hello - posting in the hope that someone will know the answer to this one.

We're in dispute with a builder who has failed to complete our garage conversion. We are seeing whether we can negotiate money back from him without going to court but it's still very possible we'll be making a claim in the Small Claims Court.

If we do go down the legal route, it's going to take a bit of time and we're heading into winter with a half completed (and partially open to the elements) conversion. Is there any reason why we shouldn't press on and get it finished simultaneous with going to court, or do we need to wait until the court has made a judgement? We can get two quotes for the work required and put them in, but we are concerned that we won't get much, if anything back from the builder and if that's the case, there's the risk that bad weather will increase the amount of work that needs doing and the cost involved. We're confident that we would win a case on the facts, but don't want to jeopardise this by doing anything that would be seen as unreasonable.

Any advice would be very welcome!

Many thanks

bod1467

Is the company a Ltd company? Or is it a sole trader? (The latter is actually better for you. The former means they can easily dissolve the company and phoenix under a new name, so as to avoid liabilities).

It might be worth checking the company out on Company Check, and see if the owner/director has been involved in many companies before you think about throwing money at court action.

InsideInsurance

The County Court Judge isnt going to want to come around to see it.

The only thing you need to do is ensure you have sufficient evidence of the issues before getting the work done. Depending on what the problems are it may be just photos/ video or it may be an independent engineers report. Getting a note from another building firm doesnt tend to go down so well on the basis they are clearly pitching for business and so have a vested interest in finding problems.

unholyangel

LadyoftheLakes wrote: »

Hello - posting in the hope that someone will know the answer to this one.

We're in dispute with a builder who has failed to complete our garage conversion. We are seeing whether we can negotiate money back from him without going to court but it's still very possible we'll be making a claim in the Small Claims Court.

If we do go down the legal route, it's going to take a bit of time and we're heading into winter with a half completed (and partially open to the elements) conversion. Is there any reason why we shouldn't press on and get it finished simultaneous with going to court, or do we need to wait until the court has made a judgement? We can get two quotes for the work required and put them in, but we are concerned that we won't get much, if anything back from the builder and if that's the case, there's the risk that bad weather will increase the amount of work that needs doing and the cost involved. We're confident that we would win a case on the facts, but don't want to jeopardise this by doing anything that would be seen as unreasonable.

Any advice would be very welcome!

Many thanks

Have you paid him in full? If so, its not very helpful for now, but in future never pay in full until the work is completed satisfactorily.

As for just now....if he's messing around, get 3 quotes from other companies/sole traders on what it will cost to finish the work. Pick the middle one and send a copy of it along with a letter - title the letter "letter before action". Keep it simple and to the point. Be reasonable in your demands (ie if theres 2 weeks of work left, dont give him a 1 week deadline to complete it).

Have you obtained any other quotes already?

ETA: I might have missed you saying already but what method did you pay? Hopefully by credit card and not by cash or bacs?

LadyoftheLakes_2

Thanks for your replies. On the downside, he's a limited company and we paid by BACS - although at least we didn't pay him the full amount, just enough to want a sizeable amount of money back. I have photos of what's been left undone, as well as emails from Building Control confirming that certain elements do not comply with regulations. Looks as though I need to get more quotes to present to court but at least it sounds as though we can push on with getting the job finished. Not with him though, any relationship has completely broken down!

Many thanks again

unholyangel

LadyoftheLakes wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. On the downside, he's a limited company and we paid by BACS - although at least we didn't pay him the full amount, just enough to want a sizeable amount of money back. I have photos of what's been left undone, as well as emails from Building Control confirming that certain elements do not comply with regulations. Looks as though I need to get more quotes to present to court but at least it sounds as though we can push on with getting the job finished. Not with him though, any relationship has completely broken down!

Many thanks again

Has he actually refused to remedy the work?

Make sure you send the letter before action and give a reasonable deadline to respond - at the very least it may mean that costs (for filing etc) may not be awarded.

LadyoftheLakes_2

He has been prevaricating since June - saying that he's very sorry and making promises but not actually doing anything more than sending the occasional man round to tinker. We've given him multiple chances to put things right and have sent at least two letters, but have now caught him out in two outright lies so we've terminated the agreement and he's agreed (in writing) to cover costs of completion - that promise being worthless of course if he has no money or goes bankrupt.