Small claims court with a joiner - what can I hope for?

user1977

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

I sued his Ltd co, which I know holds items such as saws, vans etc. 

How do you know this?

He told me that he had bought saws and equipment, and also have seen his van.

None of which necessarily means that the company owns them.

Ok yes, we can't know for sure.

We're digressing a bit from the original topic though.

Not really - there's little point going to court unless you have a fair idea that the debtor actually has assets which you can get at. So from his perspective, he might consider it wisest to put all his liabilities in the company's name, and keep the main assets in his own name (or as mentioned above, the van may well be on finance so not owned by him at all).

TripleH

You win, the company doesn't pay and gets liquidated.

You push the Liquidators toward the notion that the Director traded whilst insolvent.

Director gets struck off so has to use partner as new owner etc (if the liquidators can agree with you).

You post on social media that they are dishonest to stop them getting more work / scamming others.

Bottom line, you ate likely to struggle to get your money back (you may get some if lucky), you're best option is to minimise their chance to scam others.

Skag

user1977 said:

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

I sued his Ltd co, which I know holds items such as saws, vans etc. 

How do you know this?

He told me that he had bought saws and equipment, and also have seen his van.

None of which necessarily means that the company owns them.

Ok yes, we can't know for sure.

We're digressing a bit from the original topic though.

Not really - there's little point going to court unless you have a fair idea that the debtor actually has assets which you can get at. So from his perspective, he might consider it wisest to put all his liabilities in the company's name, and keep the main assets in his own name (or as mentioned above, the van may well be on finance so not owned by him at all).

So what would you recommend I do to check whether he has assets in his company ?

TripleH

Remember, even if the accounts show a company has a positive value, those figures could be up to a year out of date.

user1977

TripleH said:

Remember, even if the accounts show a company has a positive value, those figures could be up to a year out of date.

Subject to that OP, what do the last accounts say? If they don't suggest the company has much assets (or it's too new to have lodged accounts yet) I wouldn't have much hope of getting anything out of them.

If it's a longer-established, more substantial outfit then you have a better chance.

Skag

Tucosalamanca said:

I would encourage making a small claims court claim but don't expect to get anything other than a bad mark against his name.
Report to Trading Standards, they might well already have information on this individual.

I did a job for this chap after he contacted me.
I lost a few thousand, the client whose house we worked on lost far more.
Some people partially recovered funds, the majority got nothing.
I did obtain a ccj against him, along with about 200 other individuals.

Your joiner appears to be pulling the same tricks
Somerset's 'worst rogue builder' Mark Buck jailed - BBC News

A Small Claims Court claim is already pending hearing.

I tried the Trading Stadards, it's basically a line to Citizen's Advice Bureau.

It's quite sad to find out that the court can't really do anything about it, and people can just go around scamming others and leave unscathed.

macman

The short answer to your question is that you hope that you win your claim, and that he pays up, whether voluntarily, or following bailiff action. Either way, it's worth pursuing to the end, because of the scale of your losses. But nobody can tell you what your chances of success are.
If this company is taking on joinery projects worth £20k they probably have some assets, it doesn't sound like a one man and a dog operation.
Did you send an LBA before submitting your claim? I hope so.

Ectophile

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

I sued his Ltd co, which I know holds items such as saws, vans etc. 

How do you know this?

He told me that he had bought saws and equipment, and also have seen his van.

None of which necessarily means that the company owns them.

Ok yes, we can't know for sure.

We're digressing a bit from the original topic though.

Not really - there's little point going to court unless you have a fair idea that the debtor actually has assets which you can get at. So from his perspective, he might consider it wisest to put all his liabilities in the company's name, and keep the main assets in his own name (or as mentioned above, the van may well be on finance so not owned by him at all).

So what would you recommend I do to check whether he has assets in his company ?

You can look up the company's accounts at Companies House https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company

But I would be very surprised if the company had assets worth £10000.

Skag

macman said:

The short answer to your question is that you hope that you win your claim, and that he pays up, whether voluntarily, or following bailiff action. Either way, it's worth pursuing to the end, because of the scale of your losses. But nobody can tell you what your chances of success are.
If this company is taking on joinery projects worth £20k they probably have some assets, it doesn't sound like a one man and a dog operation.
Did you send an LBA before submitting your claim? I hope so.

That's what I'd guess. I mean this guy allegedly is trying to get more business, so he should have assets.

Yes, I've sent an LBA via email with all the facts, deadline, etc. He even replied to it promising he will pay by a specific date -he didn't.

Skag

Ectophile said:

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

user1977 said:

Skag said:

I sued his Ltd co, which I know holds items such as saws, vans etc. 

How do you know this?

He told me that he had bought saws and equipment, and also have seen his van.

None of which necessarily means that the company owns them.

Ok yes, we can't know for sure.

We're digressing a bit from the original topic though.

Not really - there's little point going to court unless you have a fair idea that the debtor actually has assets which you can get at. So from his perspective, he might consider it wisest to put all his liabilities in the company's name, and keep the main assets in his own name (or as mentioned above, the van may well be on finance so not owned by him at all).

So what would you recommend I do to check whether he has assets in his company ?

You can look up the company's accounts at Companies House https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company

But I would be very surprised if the company had assets worth £10000.

Why would you be surprised?