Historic Work - Disappearing Handyman

Cotta

£400 is around 30% of what he asked for, if he refuses in court will that figure be the starting point with me likely to incur costs as well?

unholyangel

Cotta wrote: »

It was a verbal agreement of £50 per day but as he has said I've no proof of this so he's effectively started to charge by the hour and for a mass of time he's not been on-site and for the five days he's worked it's at a rate of just over £200 per day. He did some minor work in the past for a rate of £50 per day.

Did you read my post? If he's claiming £200 per day/£x per hour then it will be for him to prove he provided you this in a durable medium before you were bound by the contract.

Also, do you have any historic invoices/messages from him that would support the £50 a day rate?

Cotta

Everything was verbal so I can no more prove than he can. I would never have approved of £15 per hour on a basis whereby no set hours were committed to.

Rosemary7391

I very much doubt the CCTV from work will still be available, but if you still have the messages that will help. Agree that he's trying it on!

Cotta

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

I very much doubt the CCTV from work will still be available, but if you still have the messages that will help. Agree that he's trying it on!

All the messages are there along with my housemate's account of what happened at the time, that's what makes the situation disappointing.

Cotta

Handyman declined my offer with the following text:

Hi Cotta. Hope u are keepin well...... Disappointed that u are deciding to take the difficult route and not meet up...... I take it that u want me to proceed to the legal end or r u?..... as i would need 2 no this?..... Just to note that u have nt made me aware up to this date of any work noted on the invoice that was incomplete or unsatisfactory so u are liable for complete invoice total and any legal expenses that will occur this side.... All the best for now. Handyman .

pinkshoes

Cotta wrote: »

Handyman declined my offer with the following text:

Hi Cotta. Hope u are keepin well...... Disappointed that u are deciding to take the difficult route and not meet up...... I take it that u want me to proceed to the legal end or r u?..... as i would need 2 no this?..... Just to note that u have nt made me aware up to this date of any work noted on the invoice that was incomplete or unsatisfactory so u are liable for complete invoice total and any legal expenses that will occur this side.... All the best for now. Handyman .

Did you send him a letter detailing what he had and hadn't done and the adjusted refund and sent a cheque for £400 ish as full and final payment?

Cotta

pinkshoes wrote: »

Did you send him a letter detailing what he had and hadn't done and the adjusted refund and sent a cheque for £400 ish as full and final payment?

I advised our verbal agreement was £50 per day, I also found receipt for previous work done to be in the range of £50 per day. He was advised of this, I did not question his dubious hours registered at work and I could only find two pieces of work I was satisfied with which would have taken one day to complete.

Cotta

I sought some advice on this, for the bill to be valid he would have had to have advised me of any bills on a quarterly basis that the he believed were outstanding under "The Supply of Goods and Service Act 1982", 18 months would be outside of the term.

I don't want to go down the route of not paying him at all on the above technicality but at least it gives me some protection, I will still be offering him £50 per day and the £135 for materials if he can ever find the relevant invoices.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

Cotta

The handyman text to say he would not be chasing the bill and was dropping his case.