Dodgy painter!

Tabitharocks · 17 June 2021 at 8:29PM

Good evening,

Bit of a long one here but I will try to condense! We (freeholders) received a quote from a painter for the outside of our house. Scaffolding was put up and the painter stated that work would commence on the 1st June and would take 2/3 days. The painter turned up on the 1st June and stayed for 2 hours scraping some paint off the wall. Following that, we did not hear or see him. I then enquired about his timeline and was told he would be back and works completed by 7th June. He did not turn up. On the 7th, I text him and asked his whereabouts and he then turned aggressive. He stated he didn’t need the hassle and that he would pull the job and ask for the scaffolding to be removed ASAP as he is ‘not making any money.’ I then called him and received a torrent of abuse and eventually talked him round simply by stating that we just needed a timeline. He promised that work would be completed by Friday 11th. Again, he did not turn up at all and by Monday 14th, I text and emailed regarding his whereabouts and stating that we are not happy. We received no response. On Tuesday 15th, we emailed and text to say we do not require his services anymore. This time he responded immediately and aggressively stated that he will be taking us to court for loss of contract.

I was wondering if he could do this and whether we should expect a court summons? No contract was signed. He did send us an invoice for the work but this needed to be paid once the work has been completed.

I would also like to add that during this whole period, I received a number of creepy and concerning messages from him. All emails and texts have been saved. He also turned up at my flat after we terminated his services, kicking my garden gate!