Payment to builder for goods?

[dannyboy50]

Hope someone can help me?

I had a builder promise to do my bathroom on a set date, nothing in writing!

He now has changed the date a week before he was going to start it & said he'll do it when I go away on holiday, which I don't want him to do! I said we should sort out another date to do the work. But he wasn't happy about that & told me to forget about it! Now a week later I have a bill of £2500 from him for units that he ordered to fit saying he wants this in 7 days! I haven't sign any agreement with him or see the units that he's ordered, which I don't want to pay for.

Where do I stand?

[gyzmo]

A verbal agreement is as good as a written one. Its just that a verbal one is soooo much more difficult to prove. The main bone of contention is the date. Can you not reach an agreement on this at all? How about paying for the units and having someone else fit them?

 

going to court over this will not impress a magistrate and you are playing a risky game, as is the builder. He will probably come off the worse - being a business and not having anything in writing.

 

Is this builder a professional or is he some one man band cowboy asking for cash in hand?

[MrShed]

I dont understand gyzmo what you think the OP has done wrong/"risky" here...? He seems wholly in the right to me.

[gyzmo]

Apologies.

 

What I am trying to say is that, imho, I don't think a court would be impressed where an entire contract is cancelled over a date where it is not of central importance to the overall contract.

 

Having read the OP again, I see that it was the BUILDER who said "forget it", not the OP.

 

I still think a court would not be too chuffed and hat it would be better to try and settle this amicably. If the OP can show that they are willing to go ahead with the work, just not at the time wanted, then the OP should be fine.

 

My apologies again for my failure to read posts properly.

[patdavies]

going to court over this will not impress a magistrate and you are playing a risky game,

 

 

Very risky if you are accusing him of a criminal offence - that's the only way a Magistrate is going to see the case.

 

Magistrates are lay members of the Criminal Court system - they do not adjudicate civil matters. (DJs do both though)

[bobbyh99]

But he wasn't happy about that & told me to forget about it!

 

If he told you to "forget about it" then surely thats exactly what you did!!

 

Whilst I have some sympathy for him shelling out £2.5k, he should have thought about that before making the above comment because he could not get hiw own way in deciding when the work should be done!

 

BobbyH

Edited October 24, 2008 by bobbyh99
Missed something

[Weird Al Yankovic]

 

Magistrates are lay members of the Criminal Court system - they do not adjudicate civil matters. (DJs do both though)

 

Oh yes they do! Non payment of council tax for one.

[raydetinu]

Is not non-payment of council tax a criminal offence that you can be sent to jail for!

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Is not non-payment of council tax a criminal offence that you can be sent to jail for!

 

No, I didn't pay last months council tax, doesn't make me a criminal!

 

If I continue not to pay it then I will be summonsed to a Magistrates court whereby my council will be granted a Liability Order, still doesn't make me a criminal.

 

Yet it is a Magistrate dealing with a civil matter.

 

However, should I continue not to pay then yes, I could end up in jail. But there would be a distinction between non payment and refusing to pay.

[raydetinu]

You are wrong non-payment of the council tax is a criminal offence! not civil.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

You are wrong non-payment of the council tax is a criminal offence! not civil.

 

I'm not even going to bother with you.

[raydetinu]

OK weird al you win, not initially a criminal offence, but could become one.

Also agree magistrates do hear some civil matters:

"Magistrates also decide many civil matters, particularly in relation to family work. When sitting in the Family Proceedings Court, magistrates deal with a range of issues affecting families and children. " from judicary web site!

 

Anyway on the core issue; Builder has no valid claim because he witdrew from the contract/deal.

[gyzmo]

Very risky if you are accusing him of a criminal offence - that's the only way a Magistrate is going to see the case.

 

Magistrates are lay members of the Criminal Court system - they do not adjudicate civil matters. (DJs do both though)

 

My apologies (again!). It is not, of course a magistrate, and I did not intend to imply that there is any criminal intent. It is, unless something else is going on, a purely civil matter. But everything else is, imho, correct!