The story of the vanished builder and my skip.

acde220

Hi
I'm in the process of having an extension work done to my house and the work is 95% complete.Since the 10th of Feb I've been unable to get in touch with my builder.

There is a skip on my driveway that the builder had been using but the skip company is refusing to take the skip without speaking to the builder as they are owed nearly 2k.

Neither the skip company nor I are able to get in touch with with the builder and with this situation what can I do ? I'm willing to pay the skip company to take the skip away not the whole 2k as it has nothing to do with me. The skip company are using me as a pawn in this.

What are my rights ? Is there a quick way to get this resolved ?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Collabora

I would say speak to Citizens Advice and Trading Standards, but if its a private house and your land then they skip is between the builder and skip company. Tell the skip company they have 7 days to remove this skip off your land or you will have it scrapped

philatio

Yep.

Send them a letter. You have no contract with the skip company. The skip is on private land. Remove it or lose it.

Don't be surprised if their truck 'accidentally' clips your gatepost when picking it up though

acde220

Thanks for your replies.

unholyangel

Follow the procedure on citizens advice site for abandoned/uncollected goods.

It basically involves sending them two written notices giving them a reasonable time to respond and making them aware if they do not collect the goods.....you will dispose of them.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nireland/consumer_ni/consumer_common_problems_with_products_e/consumer_lost_found_and_uncollected_goods_e/how_to_dispose_of_left_behind_goods.htm

Collabora

well mentioned going to scrap usually works, we have the same issue with scaffold after roof work, 2 weeks after work finished it was still up the contract told scaffold company he was finished and to collect it, we sent email to scaffold company giving them 7 days and got the email receipt saying it was read from their end, after 8 days still their so sent another email saying a scrap man is arriving in 2 hours to take away scaffold. guess what 45 minutes after sending email the scaffold company arrived to remove the scaffold

Timalay

philatio wrote: »

Yep.

Send them a letter. You have no contract with the skip company. The skip is on private land. Remove it or lose it.

Don't be surprised if their truck 'accidentally' clips your gatepost when picking it up though

Or perhaps say that you will invoice them rent for each day the skip is on your property.

Collabora

Timalay wrote: »

Or perhaps say that you will invoice them rent for each day the skip is on your property.

but that will be pointless as you have no contract or arrangement to invoice them, so they could just ignore them and you cant do a thing about it.

Contacting them and giving them a specific time to collect or you will dispose of it is the only way to go. Yes if they dont remove and you sell it then you must give the skip owner the money, but its off your land

Spicy_McHaggis

philatio wrote: »

Yep.

Send them a letter. You have no contract with the skip company. The skip is on private land. Remove it or lose it.

Don't be surprised if their truck 'accidentally' clips your gatepost when picking it up though

What's a skip worth in scrap metal compared to the landfill taxes?

It'll cost the OP another £150 to get rid of the waste.

wealdroam

OP, be very careful if you decide to sell the thing for scrap.

The legislation insists that you must get a fair price for the goods and you must be prepared to show that you have done so.

Follow the advice in that CAB link that Unholyangel provided... no idea why she linked to the Northern Ireland version though.

acde220

I'll speak to CAB tomorrow and find out what they say. Thanks for the replies.