Builder dispute final payment - what rights do we have?

megatrunk

We had some work done last year to our property which was of a very poor quality but eventually managed to get completed. Relationship with the builders soured pretty badly and the contractor insisted on receiving final payment before they would send the Building Control (Approved Inspector) around to sign off on their work (completely against what was contractually agreed).
We refused this as it wasn't what was agreed in their written communication and we had already paid for the fees of the Building Control company directly to the contractor as they had requested. They advised us they had paid the Building Control firm's invoice using this money (which was a lie) and basically threatened us that under no circumstances would they send them around until we had paid everything else. We took this as an anticipatory breach of contract as the contractor had declared they were not going to provide a service to us that we had paid for in advance. We advised them we may take further action to reclaim the funds via other means if they continued to refuse to meet their contractual obligations.

We were forced to contact the Building Control company and start dealing with them directly. After negotiation with them we paid their invoice again ourselves. We managed to get them to visit and issue us with a final certificate but we are still missing some documentation like final electrical certificate etc from the contractors. It appears that the electrician didn't register the job with his regulatory body when he should have done from what we understand as it was notifiable.

There were also various bits of small damage to our property which occurred during the build and we had to get other contractors in to fix the appalling workmanship like the plastering (we have photographic evidence of it all but only looking to deduct damage).

We still owe the contractor a small final payment. The contractor has contacted us again recently demanding final payment saying that Building Control want the job finished (so clearly haven't spoken with them as they'd know they've already visited and signed off).

What are we legally allowed to deduct from this in order to put us back in the position we would have been originally? We paid the contractor 900 in advance expressly for Building Control fees which they didn't pass onto the firm to pay their invoice as they said they would so obviously we can take that off... but what about the 2nd payment we made to the Building Control firm directly as well as the costs of obtaining an Electrical Certificate from our Local Authority as they haven't provided us with one? I feel like the actual costs to us are not yet known to put us back in the same position as there is still documentation to obtain.

Also what is the legally correct way to set out your reasoning for deducting any reasonable costs and expenses occurred in building disputes - a "pay less" notice of some kind?

Thanks,

-taff

I'm sorry, I don know the answer to yuor question but I do have to ask, why did you use a firm and not the local council?

southcoastrgi

You have to give them a chance to rectify any snags, if they refuse then you can get a quote from another builder & tell them you will deduct this from the final payment but you do have to give them the opportunity in the 1st place, get everything in writing in case it goes to court, speak to whichever co the electrician is registered with  

megatrunk

-taff said:

I'm sorry, I don know the answer to yuor question but I do have to ask, why did you use a firm and not the local council?

The contractor hired an Approved Inspector on our behalf to inspect their work so we didn't have a choice. We would have definitely gone with Local Authority given the option. 

megatrunk

southcoastrgi said:

You have to give them a chance to rectify any snags, if they refuse then you can get a quote from another builder & tell them you will deduct this from the final payment but you do have to give them the opportunity in the 1st place, get everything in writing in case it goes to court, speak to whichever co the electrician is registered with  

There are no snags to complete all of the work is finished. The only things we would deduct would the costs/expenses of damage they have caused (wrecked ceiling, smashed original flooring etc), the cost of things they said they would supply but didn't and the costs it's taken us to rectify the Building Control situation. 

Mistral001

megatrunk said:

-taff said:

I'm sorry, I don know the answer to yuor question but I do have to ask, why did you use a firm and not the local council?

The contractor hired an Approved Inspector on our behalf to inspect their work so we didn't have a choice. We would have definitely gone with Local Authority given the option. 

If the Approved Inspector was hired or your behalf, you would actually have had a choice.  That begs the question: was the Approved Inspector actually hired by the Builder on your behalf or were they a sub-contractor to the builder with their fees built into the quoted price for the project?  If it was the latter, then you could argue that any additional fees to get Building Control Approval should be down to the builder to pay.

NewShadow

megatrunk said:

What are we legally allowed to deduct from this in order to put us back in the position we would have been originally? We paid the contractor 900 in advance expressly for Building Control fees which they didn't pass onto the firm to pay their invoice as they said they would so obviously we can take that off... but what about the 2nd payment we made to the Building Control firm directly 

You can't deduct BOTH the payment you made to the builder AND the payment to the firm directly - the position you would have been in is that you would have paid ONE of them, so you can deduct only one.