Contractor owed money

[al1912]

Hi I keep this very simple - hope someone is able to help out

 

I have a limited company.

I did some work over several months for another company at an hourly rate which was paid every month no problem.

 

The guy I worked for got smart about hours worked and basically wanted more hours worked without paying etc... so i decided based upon that and teh fact he was on stop with several creditors and already was late with my project through no fault of my own that I would no longer supply any hours to them.

 

There is no contract in writing with my limited company although we have had payments being paid on the invoices so there is history.

 

I issued a letter giving 7 days or I would take his company to court. he has responded saying that I have cost him money and would make counter charges. I know he is trying it on basically.

 

I wish to proceed with the court claim as planned.

 

I believe that its simple if I work some hours for someone then they pay whats due irrelevant that I gave no notice to sever relationship with the company.

 

Is this right - Am i on firm footing?

 

Hope someone can guide me

 

Ta

[Goldlady]

If he is on stop with people already it may be a waste of money taking him to court IMO. I suspect when he started bitching about hours etc it was due to cashflow problems. I think you did the right thing withdrawing your labour, as I suspect things would have gone from bad to worse. I think the court would see your point of view if you did make a claim.

 

How much money is involved here?

[al1912]

Thanks goldie,

 

Well the company owes me £2500 so I have compiled another letter containing a statutory demand as well as the court papers I intend to submit on Friday.

 

Its sad really - In his letter to me he states mistruths about scope of supply too - I havent responded to anything at all just to say what the action is - Is this the right course action - I believe so ?

 

Cheers

[Goldlady]

Is he a sole trader or a limited company? If sole trader then stat demand is way to go, but make sure it is served properly - we used a process server to serve one on someone. if it is a limited company you would need to issue a winding up order which costs quite a lot. But yes it is worth pursuing.

[al1912]

thankx goldie

 

yes its a limited company and i would prefer to settle but seeing as they already have made false allegations ........

 

I have typed out a stat demand and was going to send it to the registered address in the morning by signed for delivery as well as taking my claim to small claims on friday .

 

Is this legal i.e parallel action. The winding up order costs £750 I believe - but this is principal more than cash.

 

[Goldlady]

Actually yes you can issue a SD against a company as a precursor to winding up proceedings. Sorry. However I am not sure how doing both that and the court claim at the same time would be viewed if it did get to court. Normally one would issue a SD after getting a judgement if the other party didn't pay up. The other thing to bear in mind is that if he decides to get the SD set aside and he has got arguments against it then you could end up getting saddled with his costs. (This happened when we issued ours for 20K - we are finally going to issue proceedings against this guy after nearly - but not quite - six years:p) After my experience I would not issue a SD unless there is no argument about the money owed whatsoever.

 

Suggest that instead of the SD you send a letter before action if you haven't already done so.

 

Winding up orders do get results as if they are published in the London Gazette the company's bank accounts are frozen very quickly. However if his company is in trouble you might get nothing - again it is a gamble. Winding up orders are a clever way of making yourself a preferential creditor when a company is struggling, but if they are struggling a bit too much you might be doing them a massive favour.

 

How much will it cost to issue the court claim for £2.5K?

[al1912]

good advice thankyou.

 

£80