Hiring contractor

randomi15

Hi guys,

I am hiring a company to do my internal house improvement

I have checked them throughly and so far so good

They were on which trusted trader

Asked for PI certificate which they forwarded

Two questions i have are:

They have registered office but when i turned up they business did not exist there

They said that is their registered office and gave me their office address

Is that usual?

Two, on their PL the public liability is x million pound but there is no cover for tools or contract works etc .

I spoke to insurance company and they said the PL is what i need and will pay out if they damage my home

Contract work is for things they hire etc which is not covered? Does that sound right?

HappyMJ

randomi15 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I am hiring a company to do my internal house improvement

I have checked them throughly and so far so good

They were on which trusted trader

Asked for PI certificate which they forwarded

Two questions i have are:

They have registered office but when i turned up they business did not exist there

They said that is their registered office and gave me their office address

Is that usual?

Two, on their PL the public liability is x million pound but there is no cover for tools or contract works etc .

I spoke to insurance company and they said the PL is what i need and will pay out if they damage my home

Contract work is for things they hire etc which is not covered? Does that sound right?

Yes having a different registered office than the normal office address is possible. I never did put my home address on my company. I had the company formation agent as the registered address.

They don't need cover for their tools. If they break them they'll replace them at their own expense. Insurance isn't always worth it for that.

PI and PL is what you're looking for and they have that so all good.

You/they would most likely be claiming on the PL insurance if you need to make a claim. Claims on PI are rare.

G_M

This should really be on the 'In my home' forum, not house buying.

Or try

DIYnot here.

Or https://www.fmb.org.uk/find-a-builder/

Or https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/getting-home-improvements-done/before-you-get-building-work-done/

randomi15

How is it possible? Can you use a dummy address for registration?

Surely both should be the same.

They had no office or presence there at all

nkkingston

My mum used to run a business from home, and fraudsters very quickly picked up on the fact that her business address and home address were the same, and kept opening credit cards etc in her name. It took up a huge amount of her time to keep shutting them down and reporting them, time which she could have spent growing her business.

A lot of offices let space that's essentially just a post box, so people who otherwise run their business from home can have a registered address that isn't their home address. They pop in once a week to pick up all the legal bits and bobs, but don't have a desk there. Now, if the office management disclaimed any knowledge of them whatsoever, then potentially they've done something dodgy, but it wouldn't benefit them to have all their clients' cheques etc being sent somewhere they didn't have access to.

davidmcn

randomi15 wrote: »

How is it possible? Can you use a dummy address for registration?

No, it needs to be a real address at which they have some form of representation - but often it will merely be their accountant or lawyers' office, who will forward any mail etc. It's perfectly normal practice and doesn't imply anything about the trustworthiness of the company you're dealing with.

randomi15

Oh so it could be their accountant address?

I guess your registered office address must be uptodate , right? This is where you get your notices etc

Slinky

A registered office address, should have a sign/plaque up stating that it's the registered office of XX Ltd. I use my accountant's office, he has a long list printed up by the door.