Advice re roofer who has my money

Pinkfrog50

Hi, looking for some advice. 
A roofer who had agreed to fit a new roof for me asked for material money up front as his business is fairly new and needed money to buy the materials. I have given him £3100, however his bank has put a hold on his account stating they are completing security checks.. it has been over a month of working days now. He is in touch with me and shows me the complaints he has sent and the discussions he has had however they are saying sorry for the inconvenience however we are still completing our security checks.. I don't know what to do next, I just want my money back? 

born_again

Well unless he has the funds elsewhere then you are going to have to wait till the bank release the funds. Which will take as long as it takes.

Pointless taking them to court, as they clearly do not have funds.

Might be worthwhile checking companies house for their name, to see if they have done the same before as a ltd co.

TELLIT01

If he has been paid in cash be the customer(s) and then paid it into his bank, the bank is probably doing money laundering checks.

Pinkfrog50

TELLIT01 said:

If he has been paid in cash be the customer(s) and then paid it into his bank, the bank is probably doing money laundering checks.

I paid it directly from my bank into his business account. They did say up to 20 working days to complete checks but it has been longer than that now and still no actual info from them ( so the builder says )

Pinkfrog50

born_again said:

Well unless he has the funds elsewhere then you are going to have to wait till the bank release the funds. Which will take as long as it takes.

Pointless taking them to court, as they clearly do not have funds.

Might be worthwhile checking companies house for their name, to see if they have done the same before as a ltd co.

I checked Companies House, he did have a motion to strike the company off, and a red notice stating he had an overdue 12 month review statement. I spoke to him, he said he didn't know and rectified this, and Companies House told me they were no longer going to strike him off.. nothing else was flagged. 

screech_78

Realistically, there isn’t much you can do. 

Court action would take months and even if you won, it doesn’t sound like he has the money to pay you back. 

That leaves waiting until the issues are resolved.

user1977

Pinkfrog50 said:

born_again said:

Well unless he has the funds elsewhere then you are going to have to wait till the bank release the funds. Which will take as long as it takes.

Pointless taking them to court, as they clearly do not have funds.

Might be worthwhile checking companies house for their name, to see if they have done the same before as a ltd co.

I checked Companies House, he did have a motion to strike the company off, and a red notice stating he had an overdue 12 month review statement. I spoke to him, he said he didn't know and rectified this, and Companies House told me they were no longer going to strike him off.. nothing else was flagged. 

And is it the limited company you’re contracting with? Or him as an individual?

ButterCheese

the fact that he is conversing with you is a very good sign.  It's not really his fault (although, yes, he should have sorted this out before).  It's one of those things.  He can't physically buy your materials if the money is held up with the bank

sheslookinhot

Good advice for anyone who is asked for advance money from a trader is to buy materials yourself. At least you know the material will be delivered to your address and you will get it.

Aylesbury_Duck

sheslookinhot said:

Good advice for anyone who is asked for advance money from a trader is to buy materials yourself. At least you know the material will be delivered to your address and you will get it.

The downside of that is that if there's a subsequent problem, you find yourself caught between a trader blaming the materials you purchased and the retailer/manufacturer blaming the trader.  Plenty of examples of that situation on here over time.

Personally, I'd move on to a trader who either has the cashflow to manage such things (which isn't easy to establish but a busy trader with lots of good reviews is likely to be ok), or has an account with the supplier.  Anyone who can do the job tomorrow and needs money in advance is a risk.