Thanks for all your support and advice. It is so frustrating that the police won't get involved. Regarding the electrics, I have notified the local authority and they have given me another number of an organision who has carried out an PIR, (which I can use as evidence in court), however the Council said nothing about the builder committing an offence. I assume I can sue him for:- The costs to rectify the faulty workmanship The costs to buy all new appliances and other items the additional costs of living elsewhere for the 3 weeks it was delayed. The costs in providing the electrical report. Is that right?

We have not been living at the house as we were refurbishing it. We had given the builder a key and he was easily able to take our appliances out through the front door. I thought if it can't be classified as theft, it could be classified as burglary as you do not need an actual "break in" for it to be classed as this. They just need to be tresspassing, which is what they were doing at 10.30pm at night. However the police are not classing it as burglary either. We have been delayed in moving in to the house as we have had to spend another 3 weeks ripping out his work and starting again. Not to mention the time spent before that dealing with loss adjusters from our insurer, the police and having to obtain new quotes for the work. The kitchen still isn't finished now after five weeks of when the kitchen should have been finished and I thought we can claim for the additional interest expense on our mortgage because of this?

I have proven to the police that the job wasn't finished and the work was shoddy with photos and argued that surley this proves that we do not owe him any money and that it is theft but I am wasting my time with them. The builder has decided to round the figure up to £1000 and now is demanding more costs from us for storing our stuff! We have it in writing from him (and signed) that the remainder was £660.

For there to be a theft, you must have intent to "permanently deprive" the person of the goods. The builder is telling the police this is not his intention, even though I have shown the police a text from him threatening to sell our stuff! Apparently he hasn't, so the police can't arrest him. He hired a van at about 10.30pm on a Friday night and we found our empty kitchen on Saturday morning. I have all the photos and have had 7 builders quote to rectify the work and they have all said it is one of the worst kitchens they have seen. I have left the kitchen empty for five weeks waiting for him to return all the items but have had to buy everything again now and I hope a court will understand that we can't wait until we get to court to retrieve our things. Can we claim for additional interest expense on our mortgage with the delay?

Thanks for this. Yes he has admitted taking everything (brand new fridge/freezer, washerdryer, oven,hob,dishwasher, all the kitchen cupboard doors, as well as shower screen, shower mixer, chainsaw... all still in their boxes. He is willing to return them if we pay him £1000. We don't owe him any money because a) he never finished the job and b) what work he has done is substandard including his electrical work which was shockingly dangerous. It is his way of trying to extort money from us and he knows the police can't do anything:evil:

We had a detailed list of works which basically detailed the installation of new kitchen cupboards, including new plumbing and electrics. He had done part of the job and there were certain jobs that he hadn't completed such as plumbing for the water feed for the fridge, worktops weren't secured on, edging wasn't finished... The work that he had done was really shoddy. None of the cabinets were square, they were damaged, the worktops were not straight, the wall units had been installed at different heights and too close together so that the doors couldn't open.... We had paid for all materials plus paid him £800 for labour and were due to pay him £660 on completion. I have contacted Building Control and have had an electrical inspector out who has found 10 points where the builder has failed. I have contacted Trading standards and they have suggested we take him to court.

I am not sure exactly what to sue our builder for. Our agreement was that he install a new kitchen for us but instead he has stolen all our kitchen cupboards doors and all our appliances at a value of over £3000 and left us with poorly installed cupboards, plumbing and electrics. He has claimed to return the items once we pay him £1000. The police are not getting involved as they classify it as a civil matter, the insurance won't cover it as it is not classed as a crime and hence I will have to sue him. I have had to buy all the appliances again as well as the whole kitchen again (as the supplier of the kitchen units does not sell the doors separately). Can I sue for the costs to replace these items or will the courts just order the builder to return the old items? Also, because the workmanship was poor, the new builder has ripped out the work of the old builder and is starting again. Can I sue for the whole cost to pay the new builder?

Hi Zoot Have just read this thread and it is very encouraging to read. Just last week we unintentionally completed on a remortgage 8 days too early and have been charged an ERP of over £9K. We have challenged it and our solicitor is awaiting their response. Will let you know their response and am dreading a long drawn out battle.