Unlicensed plumber sent an invoice 4 years later

sb_kiara08

My mum had gotten help from a mutual friend 4 years ago to help with one of our pipes that had been disconnected. After doing the job, my mum continuously called and texted him asking about how much he was charging but he kept making excuses about how he was too busy or he lost the photos of what he had done to send an invoice. 4 years later he has sent an invoice and is threatening to take the case to court. What legal grounds does he have to take us to court and do we have to pay it even though it’s 4 years late? 

Brie

Does your mom have copies of anything she sent to him?  If so, I'd save those someplace safe.

Does the invoice seem reasonable?  I'm assuming she didn't get a quote in advance so it may be a case of asking someone else if the amount is huge.  But if it's a reasonable amount for the work done then easiest thing is to pay up - even if it irks to do so.

If the amount doesn't seem reasonable (& maybe even if it does) what was the time line between being invoiced and being threatened with court?  I would expect any tradesperson or small business to give a bit of time to find the money but would also expect the individual being charged to be courteous enough to advice if there was going to be a delay.  

There's a big difference between me having someone do some work and letting them know I'll have to wait until pay day or simply ignoring their request for payment.  Also a big difference between receiving an expected bill promptly and getting it out of the blue years on and including legal threats.  

I expect the guy is having money problems and is scraping around for anything he might collect on.  If that's the case he may not have the means to take anything to court and will likely be happy to have some payment even if it's not the full amount.  Obviously if it's not the full amount your mom pays there should be some explanation why that is the case.

All that said - I don't know if legal action is likely to proceed or not.  I'm sure someone will come along and tell you.

Section62

sb_kiara08 said:

My mum had gotten help from a mutual friend 4 years ago to help with one of our pipes that had been disconnected. After doing the job, my mum continuously called and texted him asking about how much he was charging but he kept making excuses about how he was too busy or he lost the photos of what he had done to send an invoice. 4 years later he has sent an invoice and is threatening to take the case to court. What legal grounds does he have to take us to court and do we have to pay it even though it’s 4 years late? 

You don't need to be "licensed" to carry out plumbing jobs, so that is unlikely to have any impact on whether or not he could sucessfully claim money from your mum.

Has anything happened in the friendship to suddenly prompt this invoice and threat?  Does your mum want to remain friends with them?

Andy_L

The legal time limit for perusing a debt is 6 years 

Mistral001

There are no legal grounds for not paying as far as I can see.  It is less than 6 years after the work was done.  There was an understanding that the work was not going to be done for free as evidenced by you asking for an invoice and one being  sent.  The work did not require a licence, and even if it did, it is unlikely that it would be grounds for non-payment.

koalakoala

Surely if you got the work done you have to pay for it?

outtatune

We're talking about a water or waste pipe here, not a gas pipe?

If so, there's no requirement to be licensed; that's well within handyman territory.

But if it was a gas pipe, he must be Gas Safe registered to do the work, and if it was and he wasn't I'd refuse to pay, report him to Gas Safe, get in a Gas Safe engineer to check his work, and invoice him for any additional costs if for example his work needed to be undone before being redone properly.

NSG666

Spoof???????

fenwick458

so your Mum tried to pay loads of times but the guy took a long time to produce an invoice, and now he has finally produced an invoice you don't want to pay it?
you aren't telling us the other half of the story, it doesn't make any sense as it is