How to take Legal Action against Cowboy Builder?

sher123

tacpot12 wrote: »

If you can find him, you can find whether he owns the property he lives at via the Land Registry. If he does own the property, print off the Property Title to ensure he doesn't try to hide this asset.

There may be other assets of value at the property e.g. expensive cars, although these could be bought on HP so are not his property.

The builder most definitely has his own property, plus he was developing 4 flats in Dover (with his own money) around the time he was working on my job. I suspect he was using my money to finance his own project! He may be cash poor (i.e. low cash balance) since he claimed to be working on simultaneous projects; but I have a strong hunch that he is asset rich.

I will try to look up his current residence from the council electoral roll (in case he is enrolled with his current residence) and then check back with land registry. It doesn't seem like land registry has an option to search by the owner name.

sher123

ComicGeek wrote: »

Taking all that into account, you do wonder why he was recommended by the OP's architect brother-in-law....

Hindsight is a wonderful thing! I wish I had trusted my own judgement,

keithdc

sher123 wrote: »

Unfortunately at the this stage, I am having to just call solicitors purely based on google search, their advertised services, proximity to my place of residence/work etc. I don't have any word-of-mouth recommendation. Does there exist a "mybuilder" kind of website where I can solicit legal services, without having to call dozens of them?

Perhaps that is the best approach- recommendation didn't work that well for you last time.

sher123

teneighty wrote: »

You will have to become your own private detective (or pay for a real private detective) to track down his home or trading address. If he is still trading he might well be traceable. Ask at all the local builders merchants etc. some have tradesmen's business cards pinned up. I would pretend he has been recommended and you are trying to get a quote for an extension.

Also your prize prune of a brother in law owes you big time so he should be very well placed to make enquiries through his trade contacts.

If you cannot trace him or confirm whether he has sufficient assets to cover the claim I really wouldn't bother, you will just be throwing good money after bad. I worked on a case recently where the actual building claim was only £13k. By the time the solicitor was involved the legal costs and other extras pushed it up to £35k. I'm confident the builder would have settled at £13k but at £35k he decided to make a fight of it and it got very messy, it's still going through the courts now so I hate to think how much it is costing.

I am going to start making inquiries and do some detective work as you suggested.

I am mindful of the legal cost over-run. What I do believe is that the builder has nothing to clutch on for defence of his fraudulent job. As some of you have suggested, the builder could still wash his hands off by claiming inability to compensate.

I can easily file a claim and handle the legal proceedings on my own in a small claims court, but the compensation would be so paltry compared to what losses I have suffered. My experience is that small claims judgement takes a long time and the judges handle it very casually, without much diligence (basing everything on "balance of probability"). Also I have a feeling that small claims judgement are not as strictly enforced as a county court's; so just a CCJ against builder will be little solace for the effort.

Any recommendations by pm for right and reasonable london-based solicitor will be most appreciated.

keithdc

sher123 wrote: »

I am going to start making inquiries and do some detective work as you suggested.

I am mindful of the legal cost over-run. What I do believe is that the builder has nothing to clutch on for defence of his fraudulent job. As some of you have suggested, the builder could still wash his hands off by claiming inability to compensate.

I can easily file a claim and handle the legal proceedings on my own in a small claims court, but the compensation would be so paltry compared to what losses I have suffered. My experience is that small claims judgement takes a long time and the judges handle it very casually, without much diligence (basing everything on "balance of probability"). Also I have a feeling that small claims judgement are not as strictly enforced as a county court's; so just a CCJ against builder will be little solace for the effort.

Any recommendations by pm for right and reasonable london-based solicitor will be most appreciated.

Balance of probability is the test in all civil cases- this is to the claimant's benefits (in criminal courts, the test is markedly higher).

There is no such thing as the small claims court.... small claims is simply one of the tracks that cases can be allocated to by the county court.

You either need to do some reading about process or seek legal advice!!

Fire_Fox

Mother's address is useless. Even if you got a CCJ he could get it 'set aside' and you may have to start from scratch. Paperwork must be served at his correct home or business address.

Binge watch a load of the Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away or The Sheriffs are Coming episodes to see how a CCJ can be escalated to the High Court for enforcement.

Skip through the tenant eviction cases obviously!