Builder abandonment - how to protect myself now if it goes to small claims?

qy206

Hi all,


First time poster and really hoping someone might be able to give some advice please as this is brand new territory for us! Sorry if this is too long...


Our builder abandoned our project on July 1st after we paid him 80% of the costs of the original quote (>£30k) having completed significantly less than 80% of the project stating that we had delayed the project by delivering materials too slowly. We also paid him another £8k - £9k on top of this for further works discovered during the project as he had threatened to walk off site at the time if we sought quotes from other companies before paying him. He never provided us with a formal contract with terms and conditions but only a list of works with quotation prices. We don't believe we caused any excessive delays and have evidence to back up our claim (email correspondence etc).

We sent him a letter by recorded delivery informing him that he was in Breach of Contract and demanding that he return to the property within 10 days to continue with the project. He replied today via email stating that he would only return if we paid him 10% of the original quote + VAT to compensate for delays. In his email were numerous other complaints (many of which we have addressed before) regarding delays, having to carry materials up the stairs, painting walls white because he'd assumed we wanted white walls etc. All rather bizarre and many of which we'd discussed with him before.

Citizens Advice have told us just to send him another letter stating that his response is an unreasonable course of remedy and that it's irrelevant to the rights on offer to us and that we should inform him that we're seeking 3rd party offers to complete the works at their expense.

My view is that if this case goes to small claims court, surely it's in our favour to show that we've tried to reasonably resolve this with our builder by addressing his complaints as much as possible? Even if it's repetitive and we've already responded to them several times? At least it shows that we want to try to reach a resolution with them. In any case, trying to communicate with him is a better path than actually going to court. However, Citizens Advice told us that we'd just be wasting our time if we did that and just to send the letter, nothing more.

What is everyone's advice? I know Citizens Advice aren't trained legal advisors so I'd really appreciate any input from people who understand the court process, particularly with regards to small claims as we'll probably be claiming £10k, given the quotes we've received from new builders so far.

Thanks to everyone in advance!

InsideInsurance

qy206 wrote: »

What is everyone's advice? I know Citizens Advice aren't trained legal advisors so I'd really appreciate any input from people who understand the court process, particularly with regards to small claims as we'll probably be claiming £10k, given the quotes we've received from new builders so far.

£10k is the limit to the small track of the county court. If your claim is there or there about there is a chance it will end up being assigned to the fast track instead where limited solicitor fees become eligible. Generally the courts try to keep things in lower tracks but sometimes complexity will push it up even if its just below the limit.

All parties must take reasonable attempts to resolve complaints outside of court. It is ultimately for the courts to decide what "reasonable" is however. It doesnt mean you have to endlessly go around the same loops however and failure to attempt to resolve it out of court can only impact who picks up the legal/court costs and not the decision of who has won.

qy206

Thanks InsideInsurance!

So if I claim £10k, there's a risk that it may get taken out of the small claims track? I would hope that a builder abandoning a project having been paid on time and with no prior warning should be relatively straightforward.....:(

Does anyone have any idea of the success rate of these sort of claims in small claims court? We are already out of pocket so really don't want to incur more costs and stress unless it's worth it.

Just trying to think ahead and make sure I'm ready if it does go down that route...

somethingcorporate

Is it an individual or a company? If your claim is succesful expect them to fold/disappear/declare themselves bankrupt to avoid paying.

unholyangel

If you have legal cover on your car/home insurance, now might be a good time to put it to use and get some advice from them.

You're looking to claim how much it will cost you to have the work completed by someone else minus the money you were to still pay the original person. If the case is complex or you claim £10k+, your case (as above) will likely not be allocated to small claims which could leave you liable for costs of the other side if you lose or if a judge thinks you have acted unreasonably (doesn't sound like you have, just including for completeness).

If he is a limited company there is a chance he might fold the company to avoid paying. You could report him to TS to keep an eye on but it wouldnt get your money back and won't guarantee they'll even take action for it (since they tend to focus on the most severe cases).

qy206

Already reported to TS. They replied back with "I have raised this and your reference number is as follows XXX". Not sure if this means they've taken it on or just that they're confirming receipt of my email?

They are a ltd company but they've been operating since 2008. I believe that the reason they abandoned our site was to go work on a much bigger project. I think they needed the people and they only signed this new project after they'd started work with us so hadn't anticipated the need for people so soon. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for them. I just think they have an incentive to continue operating rather than folding the company.

The quotes I'm getting back are ~£12k more than I would have had to spend had my previous builders finished the work. I would look to claim only £10k of that back to keep it in small claims. The other £2k would just be written off as a lesson learnt...