To pay or not to pay - Money Claim for incomplete service

robinski70

Hi,
We recently booked an energy assessor to provide an energy performance certificate for my aunt's house. We are selling the house as my aunt died and we are co-executors. When the assessor came to the property (a 5-bed large detached house) he was done and dusted in about 25-30 minutes - I was not there, but when I got the EPC from him he had not been into the loft and yet marked the property down saying the level of insulation in the loft was 'unknown'.

I challenged this and asked whether he had asked for access to the loft - there is a sturdy loft ladder and easy access. He said that he had not but had instead 'looked into the loft' and sent me pictures which looked like they had been taken with a smartphone camera on a selfie stick. He said the loft entrance was obstructed (it wasn't) and that in any case if the loft has boards he would have to put the same grade as he wouldn't be able to tell that the entire loft was insulated.

This is patent nonsense as you can clearly see that there is insulation laid down under every board and it is hardly likely that my aunt would not have insulated the roof space properly.

To cut a long story short, I asked him to come back and re-assess, he came up with all sorts of excuses why he shouldn't have to, plus he lied about a conversation with my co-executor, told us he would cancel the EPC, became weirdly aggressive and wrongly cited regulations that disproved his claims anyway. After sending an email verging on threatening to my co-executor I told him we would not pay him and would not ask him back to re-assess as his behaviour was unprofessional.

Now he has issued a money claim. But in his own inimitable style he has completely the wrong names on it. My name is nowhere near correct. He's added a bunch of trumped up costs to the claim too (expected). 

1. Do I even have to bother answering his money claim as the name is totally incorrect?
2. Or, is the correct thing to do to answer the money claim and put the correct details on there and state our case?

We have all of the strange and aggressive correspondence with this person and I feel confident that we would not end up paying the full amount if anything.

Thanks for any experiences or knowledge you can furnish us with. I am erring on course of action two but would like to hear any thoughts.

Thanks,

Rob.

Batesy1976

robinski70 said:

This is patent nonsense as you can clearly see that there is insulation laid down under every board and it is hardly likely that my aunt would not have insulated the roof space properly.

Why not?  It's surprising how many older properties don't have loft insulation.  Mine purchased 2 years ago did not, and checking on a property I rented as well as the neighbours showed "assumed none" all for loft insulation.

I suspect the EPC would not have been downgraded for an "unknown" so honestly, I think you should have paid him.  I think your expectations for what the EPC involves are far higher than the reality of them.

I've got a feeling you may lose this court case, although this is entirely the wrong subform for discussing it.

robinski70

Batesy1976 said:

robinski70 said:

This is patent nonsense as you can clearly see that there is insulation laid down under every board and it is hardly likely that my aunt would not have insulated the roof space properly.

Why not?  It's surprising how many older properties don't have loft insulation.  Mine purchased 2 years ago did not, and checking on a property I rented as well as the neighbours showed "assumed none" all for loft insulation.

I suspect the EPC would not have been downgraded for an "unknown" so honestly, I think you should have paid him.  I think your expectations for what the EPC involves are far higher than the reality of them.

I've got a feeling you may lose this court case, although this is entirely the wrong subform for discussing it.

Why not? Because even a basic inspection of the loft reveals that the entire loft is insulated. 

I'm asking in this forum because there is no forum relating directly to money claims and CCJs etc can of course impact your credit file. 

If anyone can direct me to the right forum I'll post elsewhere. It's not that clear.

Batesy1976

robinski70 said:

Batesy1976 said:

robinski70 said:

This is patent nonsense as you can clearly see that there is insulation laid down under every board and it is hardly likely that my aunt would not have insulated the roof space properly.

Why not?  It's surprising how many older properties don't have loft insulation.  Mine purchased 2 years ago did not, and checking on a property I rented as well as the neighbours showed "assumed none" all for loft insulation.

I suspect the EPC would not have been downgraded for an "unknown" so honestly, I think you should have paid him.  I think your expectations for what the EPC involves are far higher than the reality of them.

I've got a feeling you may lose this court case, although this is entirely the wrong subform for discussing it.

Why not? Because even a basic inspection of the loft reveals that the entire loft is insulated. 

I'm asking in this forum because there is no forum relating directly to money claims and CCJs etc can of course impact your credit file. 

If anyone can direct me to the right forum I'll post elsewhere. It's not that clear.

There are forums related to energy and forums related to house buying/selling.

If the insulation was under boards, I suspect he's right and he wouldn't be expected to lift them all to check.

If his marking it as "unknown" hasn't changed your EPC rating, I suspect this is isn't going to win you your case.

Thrugelmir

robinski70 said:

This is patent nonsense as you can clearly see that there is insulation laid down under every board and it is hardly likely that my aunt would not have insulated the roof space properly.

I suspect that your Aunt didn't insulate the loft nor lay the boards herself. Opinion isn't a basis for a legal argument. Facts are. 

robinski70

Thrugelmir said:

robinski70 said:

This is patent nonsense as you can clearly see that there is insulation laid down under every board and it is hardly likely that my aunt would not have insulated the roof space properly.

I suspect that your Aunt didn't insulate the loft nor lay the boards herself. Opinion isn't a basis for a legal argument. Facts are. 

Of course she didn't lay them. What a waste of time replying. I guess some people just come on here to argue or make themselves feel superior. .

If you read the original post he didn't even go into the loft to assess it. Anyway thanks for nothing. I may win or lose, that's the game, but the replies here have supplied precisely nothing to help me decide on a course of action.

PixelPound

Before I bought my house over 5 years ago there were plenty of web articles about how inaccurate EPC's often were, and that the inspectors often did a very quick cursory inspection often missing stuff, putting assumptions, or simply putting unknown. So I'm not surprised by your experiences, and really is "money for old rope".

To your question. If you don't respond and a CCJ is awarded - will that be linked to you and appear on your credit file? 

If you do respond, what will be your defence - what has he stated on the Particulars of Claim as that is what needs addressing. I would assume its that a contract was agreed and work done, but not paid. The question is not whether it's to your standard or expectation, unless that's stated in the contract, so it's a subjective viewpoint. You would need to explain why you are not liable and not just throw your toys out because of their attitude.

The court likes to know attempts have been made to settle. So what would you settle on - a reduced fee because the EPC is substandard? The full fee if they came out and did an inspection at a pre arranged time when you were there to ensure everything was covered?

brianposter

Could you make a complaint to "Trading Standards" in the meantime ?