claim against sole trader / limited company

anrgy.customer

I had the misfortune to come across a rogue trader that costed me about 1000£ in repairs for the work he had improperly done. I started a money claim online against him as a sole trader. Later I found out that he is the director of a limited company registered in Companies House. He did not mention the limited company in any way, nor the term 'limited' appeared in the webpage where he offered his services. There was no contract, just a verbal agreement between him and me. I even made payments to a bank account registered on his name. Obviously, the limited company has a capital of 1£ and is about to be struck off the register. I'm wondering if my money claim against him (and not the limited company) will be considerate legitimate. Also if he, acting as a limited company, had to fullfil any obligations by law - such as verbalise the agreement in a contract between the company and myself - that he did not and I would be able to use in court.

hollydays

What date did he agree to do the work.
What date did he register his limited company.

anrgy.customer

The company was already registered when he carried out the work. I was not aware I was dealing with a limited company.

davidmcn

He can only benefit from the limited liability of the company if that's what he was trading under. If you contracted with Joe Bloggs then that's who you pursue, the fact he also has a limited company isn't relevant.

hollydays

Do you have his company name so we can access the link to his website

anrgy.customer

He doesn't have a website. He has a page on an online platform for tradesmen: mybuilder.com

In that webpage he uses a trading alias that is the same as the limited company, except that the term 'limited' does not appear.


I haven't read anywhere that there are obligations about making the limited (or equivalent) term explicit.

hollydays

Or look at the terms and conditions on the website.
That's often where they use their proper company name

bris

If you paid the money to a personal bank account then you will have a case.


if the money went to the companies bank then probably not.

da_rule

I wouldn’t worry yourself too much at this stage as there isn’t too much you can do, other than withdraw your claim and re-file against the limited company.

When is the deadline for response for the defendant?

If I was you then I would wait for him to defend the claim, as he may not raise it as a defence. If he does raise a defence of “the work was done by the limited company and I am only a director etc etc”, you can then take a view. In essence you’d have 3 options:

1) File a reply to defence setting out the reasons why you believe he was acting in a personal capacity (i.e. as a sole trader and not as a director) and let the Court decide; or
2) Make an application under Civil Procedure Rule 19.2 to add the limited company (or substitute the individual for the limited company) to the claim. In filing his defence as an individual he may, if he isn’t careful, admit liability on the part of the company and make the claim far easier to prove; or
3) Discontinue the claim and decide whether you want to file it again against the company.

For option 2, an application fee of £100 will be payable. So it may be cheaper to stop the claim and start again. However you would have to file against the company only, whereas if you went for option 2, you could keep the individual on the claim which would give the court the option to find them personally liable.

Also, if you make the application before the matter is allocated to the small claims track it will essentially freeze the claim. This means that the general cost rules will apply and as such, if your application is unsuccessful you could be liable for the other sides costs with no protection. However, if the individual does defend the matter on the basis that it’s the company and not him then he may agree (by consent order) to substitute the company for his personal name (he probably wouldn’t agree to add the company and keep himself as a party also).

anrgy.customer

I paid him to his personal bank account. However, I read that a limited company can be run with a personal bank account. There is no requirement for a business bank account.

anrgy.customer

As I mentioned in the first post, the limited company has a capital of 1£ and is about to be struck off the register. So definitely I won't be able to issue a new claim against the limited company. My only hope is to convince the court that my claim is legitimately against the sole trader.



I was hoping to find out some legal requirements for the limited company that he didn't adhere to (like signing a contract).