Builders and small claims

[jonni2bad]

2 threads merged.

 

Please don't start any new threads in relation to this particular problem - it will undoubtedly mean that new readers will not be able to see the full extent of advice given and will likely deflect from you obtaining best advice.

[legalpickle]

I seriously recommend that you do not split up your claims. Whilst it is possible if you make one small error in one of the claims, the others would be disqualified. Also, he could make an application to the court to group the claims together, in which case you'd have already started the claims and have no choice but to continue or lose a lot more. Even if you have the best intentions and make them clearly separate issues, you could be forced to lump them together or be held in abuse of the court process.

 

I would recommend looking around for an 'After The Event' insurance policy. Your Solicitor that you looked into the matter with should have some names and companies.

 

Your thread is unclear as to what the PM's status is. If his wife is a sole-trader and all the invoices were in his wife's sole trading business name, then her husband would have been employed by her, and you would go after her trading company. From what you write, she does have assets so there is a better chance of recouping your losses. I'm surprised nobody has said this till now.

 

It is irrelevant that you dealt with him directly. If the invoices were in the 'company' name, he is her husband, it is reasonable to assume that he had her permission to enter into the contract, and you can therefore sue her as the company - being a sole-trader.

 

I hope this makes your life a lot better!

 

Don't hesitate to ask should you have any further questions, and I'm sure that one of the good people [including myself!] here will try and answer as best as we can.

 

Good Luck & Please Keep Us Posted.

[emmaf01]

After having a nightmare with builders last year myself (nothing in comparison to your issues) I am considering some sort of action.

 

This thread is so informative.

 

No advice- I just wish you all the best.

[mcgu6240]

thanks emmafo1 and legal pickle. I have found others who have had problems both with the builder and the Project Manager so we are trying to help each other through this. My MSP has written to the Commander of Police in Glasgow and he states that they are taking this investigation seriously but will take some time. Th wife is a sole trader and we have put the wife in the frame so we hope that she too will be called in for interview. Or solicitor also wrote to her, but she has ignored all letters. The police want to involve Trading Standards re the builder, but they have been reluctant to get involved. I just hope the police can persuade them to do this - given the volume of complaints.

 

Civil action is a difficult one for us we just don't have the money ( we have already spent 4k and got nowhere - they just keep ignoring letters) as we have been told it will cost about £70k to put things right n the house and that doesn't include everything we have lost to date including interest payments on the loan we took out for the build. The small claims court and taking out more than one I appreciate is not the best solution so we will take any advice we can to get this right - if we decide to go ahead. Our new builder has been advised by his solicitor in relation to his business that he should do something similar so he is breaking down invoices very carefully for us and will provide all the necessary detail.trading standards have also advised this and also suggested - given our circumstances to make use of the legal clinics at the universities - so again we may do this.

 

We will not go down this road if there is a way of getting - at least some- of our money back in another way. I will try what you suggested Legalegal and look for these insurance policies.

 

We really do hope the police are able to charge at least the Project management company with fraud and I hope the builder with some kind of endangerment and/or theft.

[legalpickle]

thanks emmafo1 and legal pickle. I have found others who have had problems both with the builder and the Project Manager so we are trying to help each other through this. My MSP has written to the Commander of Police in Glasgow and he states that they are taking this investigation seriously but will take some time. Th wife is a sole trader and we have put the wife in the frame so we hope that she too will be called in for interview. Or solicitor also wrote to her, but she has ignored all letters. The police want to involve Trading Standards re the builder, but they have been reluctant to get involved. I just hope the police can persuade them to do this - given the volume of complaints.

 

Civil action is a difficult one for us we just don't have the money ( we have already spent 4k and got nowhere - they just keep ignoring letters) as we have been told it will cost about £70k to put things right n the house and that doesn't include everything we have lost to date including interest payments on the loan we took out for the build. The small claims court and taking out more than one I appreciate is not the best solution so we will take any advice we can to get this right - if we decide to go ahead. Our new builder has been advised by his solicitor in relation to his business that he should do something similar so he is breaking down invoices very carefully for us and will provide all the necessary detail.trading standards have also advised this and also suggested - given our circumstances to make use of the legal clinics at the universities - so again we may do this.

 

We will not go down this road if there is a way of getting - at least some- of our money back in another way. I will try what you suggested Legalegal and look for these insurance policies.

 

We really do hope the police are able to charge at least the Project management company with fraud and I hope the builder with some kind of endangerment and/or theft.

 

No problem. Nice to be appreciated for once!

 

Don't hold your breath for the Police. If by you they are anything like they are near us, then we'll have gone through the next 10 recessions before they do anything!

 

Please keep us posted.

 

Good luck!

[mcgu6240]

Thought I would provide an update. The police have interviewed both the builder and Project Manager now and they will be carrying out further interviews with the sub contractors. It is painfully slow but at least they appear to be taking it reasonably seriously. Can I ask a question of any of you good people- I have found out that company owned by the Project Manager's wife started trading in 2002 when her husband was first made bankrupt and he acted as agent for a number of plannning applications throughout his bankruptcy. He is named as agent on the plannning applications. The wife is obviously a front as she works full time in the NHS. His status on his insolvency record is 'registered' unemployed should he have declared this - if so given he was discharged from his bankruptcy in 2005 can I take this information to anyone. And if so who. I have given this information to the administrator in bankruptcy but all they have said is this case was closed in 2005. I know this all sounds very vindictive, but this man has ripped off so may people and has left us in a desparate financial situation.

[raydetinu]

YES if he was claiming benefits and recieving payment for work during that time; report to the DHSS or DWP or local council.

[legalpickle]

Thought I would provide an update. The police have interviewed both the builder and Project Manager now and they will be carrying out further interviews with the sub contractors. It is painfully slow but at least they appear to be taking it reasonably seriously. Can I ask a question of any of you good people- I have found out that company owned by the Project Manager's wife started trading in 2002 when her husband was first made bankrupt and he acted as agent for a number of plannning applications throughout his bankruptcy. He is named as agent on the plannning applications. The wife is obviously a front as she works full time in the NHS. His status on his insolvency record is 'registered' unemployed should he have declared this - if so given he was discharged from his bankruptcy in 2005 can I take this information to anyone. And if so who. I have given this information to the administrator in bankruptcy but all they have said is this case was closed in 2005. I know this all sounds very vindictive, but this man has ripped off so may people and has left us in a desparate financial situation.

 

None of this sounds vindictive. Give it to them where it hurts! That's what they've done to you.

 

Like Ray wrote, report him to DWP and the Council if he was on benefits whilst working - not DSS, however as it is extremely unlikely they would be involved and I doubt they deal with this.

 

DWP and most Councils have whistleblower schemes. Call their offices [numbers in Yellow Pages], or PM me your local area [postcode and town] and I'll find it online for you.

 

However, I must advise you that even if the coppers do something, which I doubt, you are unlikely to recoup your losses unless you follow my previous post - which is not a guaranteed but more likely than leaving it to the coppers!

 

I understand your money problem, but I would spend a good day looking into funding options such as ATE - After The Events Insurance.

 

If the wife owns a property - and you can check this against the property they reside in or an address you already have at http://www.landregisteronline.org.uk - then you are likely to be able to recoup some of your losses as and when you win.

 

Whatever you do, please keep us posted.

 

Best of Luck!

[mcgu6240]

Thanks raydetinu and legalpickle for your advice. The wife does own the property but it is mortgaged up to the hilt - they are probably in negative equity now given the downturn. But a lump sum - 80k- was taken out in 2005 against the property. It makes me think they may have another property else where, but I'm not sure how you go about finding that out. The police - if they get their finger out might do.

 

One of the other 'victims' of this pair is taking them to a small claims court as they owe her money but are refusing to give it back. So I will see how she gets on and whether they pay up.

 

We have been concentrating on getting the house finished and selling the one we are in (just sold- hooray!) - this has had to be our priority otherwise we could go down financially but we are almost there we can spend more time on pursuing this man, his wife and the builder. I will certainly look at those policies you have mentioned. Our MP has now offered her support as Consumer Law is still a reserved UK matter, but we still need to go and have a meeting with her. We hope she can persuade trading standards to go after these people - as they are refusing to get involved. We appreciate they can't pick up our individual case, but they should be pursuing them to stop this happening to others. Do others have problems with TS - getting them to act? Or could it be down to the effectiveness of local offices?

[mcgu6240]

Sorry Legalpickle re your advice on reporting to the DWP- I'm not sure how to PM someone, but I'm sure I can find the information re the local council. Thanks so much again for your valuable advice

[legalpickle]

Sorry Legalpickle re your advice on reporting to the DWP- I'm not sure how to PM someone, but I'm sure I can find the information re the local council. Thanks so much again for your valuable advice

 

The council will only be able to deal with if the builder is getting Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit.

 

Go to DWP - Targeting Benefit Thieves to deal with reporting him if you think he's claiming Income Support/Incapacity Benefit or similar.

[mcgu6240]

Hello everyone I haven't been on for a while, mainly because there has been nothing much to report, just keeping up the pressure on the builder and Project Manager. I have also found a number of other new people who have been 'fleeced' by one or both of these men. Good news for a change- the police have charged the Project Manager with FRAUD. Still a long way to go as a report now has to go to the Procurator Fiscal and a decision made as to whether it should be investigated further. But a year down the line we have had our first piece of good news. The police have asked Trading Standards to get involved re the builder and the BBC are going to feature this pair in the autumn on one of its programmes. We are not involved we just passed on details to the production company about another family who have been left devasted by these people - we don't want to jepordise any criminal case.

 

So hopefully things will start going our way but a way to go yet. We have been left financially devasted not to mention emotionally wrecked by these people and I am determined they should not get away with it.

[emmaf01]

I know it isn't much comfort but standing up to these people is so important!

 

We are going to have to take our gardeners to court as they haven't finished the job 18 months on. I am looking at a small court claim to get some money back off them to contribute to finishing the job, but they are slippery as fish. Good job I know where they live.

 

It drives me crazy that after saving and spending so much money, we still can't let our son play alone in the back garden as it is still open to the road.

 

Good luck with your dealings with these people.

[HSBCrusher]

Good news for a change- the police have charged the Project Manager with FRAUD.

fantastic stuff.

 

keep us posted.

[jolygreengiant]

Have you tried the Financial Ombudsman Service. It is long winded, simular to court proceedings. Their decision is binding.

 

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Edited December 6, 2010 by HSBCrusher