I E Legal Solicitors formal demand letter advice

bris

bery_451 wrote: »

Yes the problem is i gave them 2 weeks notice last month to complete the job and put things right but their responses were unsatisfactory so we had no choice but to employ another window company to sort their mess out which obviously costs £thousands. Is the settlement idea still feasible after these circumstances?

It's going to get complicated now and you really need to discuss this with your own legal professional.


As the work is indeed completed then it's all about the steps you took to put the work right, is two weeks enough? Did you send a time is of the essence letter first?


Their is a legal process you need to do before taking matters into your own hands. Two weeks may be enough to convince who ever hears the case but solicitors on both sides will have legal arguments on that. Did you mitigate the loss, get quotes or just take the first one that came along?


The other thing is the contract, as Steampowered says it's not as easy as saying you're not getting paid, you owe the money. What you have to do is counter sue for the cost to put it right, whether that's above or below the contract price is irrelevant, either you will be awarded consequential losses or they will be awarded the difference.


It's going to be tricky, get legal advice.

bery_451

steampowered wrote: »

If the window cleaning company breached the contract, the legal position is that they are required to pay damages for that breach of contract, but you are liable to pay the rest.

For example, if the cost of the service was £8,000, and it cost you £3,000 to fix the shoddy work, you would be liable to pay the £5,000 balance.

However if the cost of the service was £8,000, and it cost you £8,000 to fix the shoddy work, you would not be liable to pay anything.

I would suggest sending them a copy of the invoice from the company you used to fix their shoddy work. You could offer to pay them £8,000 less whatever is on that invoice.

Yes they supply and fit/new windows and doors instead of cleaning them.

I cannot see justification for their £8000 claim as they fitted half of the house and the remaining half of the house is incomplete unfinished. They took the remainder items back with them so we dont have them no more. So not understanding on how they value their claim at £8000 :huh: £8000 claim is assuming they delivered all the items and fitted them to whole house completing it right?

bery_451

bris wrote: »

It's going to get complicated now and you really need to discuss this with your own legal professional.


As the work is indeed completed then it's all about the steps you took to put the work right, is two weeks enough? Did you send a time is of the essence letter first?


Their is a legal process you need to do before taking matters into your own hands. Two weeks may be enough to convince who ever hears the case but solicitors on both sides will have legal arguments on that. Did you mitigate the loss, get quotes or just take the first one that came along?


The other thing is the contract, as Steampowered says it's not as easy as saying you're not getting paid, you owe the money. What you have to do is counter sue for the cost to put it right, whether that's above or below the contract price is irrelevant, either you will be awarded consequential losses or they will be awarded the difference.


It's going to be tricky, get legal advice.

Hi yes how do we obtain a legal professional and what do we look our for i.e. credentials etc. when obtaining a legal professional?

We are afraid legal costs will be out of our affordability so which route you recommend that is the least expensive legal route?

Does legal cover add on policies such as home/car insurance cover this?

Yes I sent emails reminding them about time. Yes we tried to mitigate losses by comparing quotes from other window companies and we did not go for the most expensive quote.

bris

You can usually get a free 30 minute consultation. The Law Society can help you find a suitable solicitor in your area.


If you have legal cover for your household insurance then you can at least give them a call and find out.


They can still chase you for the 8k because they will have the windows already pre made that are only suitable for you and useless to them, so they will see you as liable for them.


You may have done enough to mitigate the loss and the timescale may be ok, but it's not really something that this forum will give you a definite answer too.


This will most likely be held in a small claims court so the legal fees they can charge are limited and you might get enough advice from a solicitor in 30 minutes to defend and counter sue yourself.


The person hearing the case in a small claims court know not everyone is a legal professional and a lot of leeway is offered to the general public.

bery_451

bris wrote: »

You can usually get a free 30 minute consultation. The Law Society can help you find a suitable solicitor in your area.


If you have legal cover for your household insurance then you can at least give them a call and find out.


They can still chase you for the 8k because they will have the windows already pre made that are only suitable for you and useless to them, so they will see you as liable for them.


You may have done enough to mitigate the loss and the timescale may be ok, but it's not really something that this forum will give you a definite answer too.


This will most likely be held in a small claims court so the legal fees they can charge are limited and you might get enough advice from a solicitor in 30 minutes to defend and counter sue yourself.


The person hearing the case in a small claims court know not everyone is a legal professional and a lot of leeway is offered to the general public.

Much appreciated for your advice there.

Regarding the remainder windows items they taken back with them, How do I verify that they still have them and they not have sold them? Confused because if the remaining items are useless to them then why they take them back? I cannot see justification for their £8000 claim or please correct me.

Where do I find a law society solicitor that will give a free 30mins consultation?

Any other cost effective methods/ways for us to embrace the legal path as we worry 30mins may not be enough unless it is a straightforward case?

unholyangel

This is a backwards claim to say the least.

1. Even if the contract allowed them to claim interest on sums payable (as above late payment act only refers to commercial debts), the sum is not due yet so no interest is claimable
2. They can't try to bind you to your obligations (to pay the remaining balance of £8000) when they have refused to perform theirs.
3. The letter you've received is undoubtedly a cookie cutter letter intended for chasing commercial debts.

However despite all the above, it would be foolish to ignore it. You should at least make attempts to resolve it without involving the courts else it may adversely affect you if it ever does go to court.

Unless I'm mistaken, you havent yet said how much it cost you to have the work completed by the 2nd company or if you have had any out of pocket expenses at all (and its important regarding the right to set off that the new company were only contracted to complete the original works as agreed with the original company and that it hasn't been changed/had extras added).

Whether the time you gave the original company to come back was reasonable will likely depend on exact circumstances, ie do you have anything in writing from them saying that they would not be completing the contract as agreed (even saying they wont complete as agreed until money has been paid in advance)? Was your home safe & secure in the state they left it? Originally I got the impression from your posts they'd left the window cavity empty and you were pressed for time in order to secure the house against the elements. But your latest post makes it sound more like they did one side of the house (ie the front) and the back was completely untouched (still with its original windows).

bery_451

unholyangel wrote: »

This is a backwards claim to say the least.

1. Even if the contract allowed them to claim interest on sums payable (as above late payment act only refers to commercial debts), the sum is not due yet so no interest is claimable
2. They can't try to bind you to your obligations (to pay the remaining balance of £8000) when they have refused to perform theirs.
3. The letter you've received is undoubtedly a cookie cutter letter intended for chasing commercial debts.

However despite all the above, it would be foolish to ignore it. You should at least make attempts to resolve it without involving the courts else it may adversely affect you if it ever does go to court.

Unless I'm mistaken, you havent yet said how much it cost you to have the work completed by the 2nd company or if you have had any out of pocket expenses at all (and its important regarding the right to set off that the new company were only contracted to complete the original works as agreed with the original company and that it hasn't been changed/had extras added).

Whether the time you gave the original company to come back was reasonable will likely depend on exact circumstances, ie do you have anything in writing from them saying that they would not be completing the contract as agreed (even saying they wont complete as agreed until money has been paid in advance)? Was your home safe & secure in the state they left it? Originally I got the impression from your posts they'd left the window cavity empty and you were pressed for time in order to secure the house against the elements. But your latest post makes it sound more like they did one side of the house (ie the front) and the back was completely untouched (still with its original windows).

Hi yes I have it in email writing from them that they want upfront advance payment to complete the job which breaches the contract.

How can I now resolve it with them when I already signed up with another window company. Too late for them now? I gave them 2 weeks notice last month in november.

Yes when they left the job half finished parts of the property are exposed which would invalidate a home insurance policy I say.

bery_451

Hi coming back to this thread can anyone advise.

hollydays

unholyangel wrote: »

This is a backwards claim to say the least.

1. Even if the contract allowed them to claim interest on sums payable (as above late payment act only refers to commercial debts), the sum is not due yet so no interest is claimable
2. They can't try to bind you to your obligations (to pay the remaining balance of £8000) when they have refused to perform theirs.
3. The letter you've received is undoubtedly a cookie cutter letter intended for chasing commercial debts.

However despite all the above, it would be foolish to ignore it. You should at least make attempts to resolve it without involving the courts else it may adversely affect you if it ever does go to court.

Unless I'm mistaken, you havent yet said how much it cost you to have the work completed by the 2nd company or if you have had any out of pocket expenses at all (and its important regarding the right to set off that the new company were only contracted to complete the original works as agreed with the original company and that it hasn't been changed/had extras added).

Whether the time you gave the original company to come back was reasonable will likely depend on exact circumstances, ie do you have anything in writing from them saying that they would not be completing the contract as agreed (even saying they wont complete as agreed until money has been paid in advance)? Was your home safe & secure in the state they left it? Originally I got the impression from your posts they'd left the window cavity empty and you were pressed for time in order to secure the house against the elements. But your latest post makes it sound more like they did one side of the house (ie the front) and the back was completely untouched (still with its original windows).

Can you reply to some of unholyangel questions

DoaM

Please give a brief bulleted list of the events. No emotion, just the facts.

* Company contracted to perform X duties (give a brief detail of what the scope of supply was)
* Contract started Y date
* Initial deposit £2k, balance of £8k due on completion
* [now give a summary of communications about the issue]

etc.

The facts will allow us to help you better.