Self employed Carpenter ripped off...

[madmax1973]

If someone could help, we would be most grateful...

 

My Husband is owed about £4000 from a guy he has sub-contracted for. (My husband is a one man band)

 

This money has been outstanding for some months now. Unfortunatly we have no savings or any means to obtain moneys. He has now fallen out with the guy due to finally loosing it, he told him he would not work any more for him untill he has been paid. He has always been a bit of a pain for paying but this year he has got worse. (we believe his money is tied up in property that he cant sell)

 

We got married at the end of August and could not go on our honeymoon because of this. What adds insult to injury is that he and his wife have just been for a nice 10 day holiday We also have a Tax bill and a NI bill that we cannot pay untill we get this which has been outstanding for a few months now.

 

I think we can take him down the small claims route but can someone give me any advice on how, what proof we need ect.. do we need to send him a letter?

 

Kind Regards

 

Max

[BankFodder]

You will need to have some proof that the work was done and what price was agreed.

It would be a good idea to have some paper evidence that you have asked him for the money - even if he doesn't reply/

 

Write him a nice letter saying when you did the work, roughly what the work was and that the payment is now outstanding for XX months and you need it as you are in difficulty.

 

If he doesn't repond in, say, 10 days, then send him another nice letter. refer to the previous one and say that you really need to know where you stand. If he doesn't reply to that one within 7 days then send him an LBA - 7 days and then sue.

 

If you already have good verifiable evidence that he agreed to pay you for the work, that the work was done and that he hasn't paid then don't bother about all of the writing, just sned hima 7 day LBA and then sue.

 

Probably better to send him at least one preliminary letter though in order to give him an opportunity to say something - such as the quality of the work was not up to scratch etc.

 

If he says nothing then just go ahead and sue after the expiry of the LBA.

 

If in court he treis to say that the work was not good, you will be able to point out to the judge that although he had plenty of time to say that before, he has only raised this issue after the claim has been issued in order to try and avoid paying.

This point will not be lost on the judge.

[hunni2006]

Hi max

 

tbh in this day & age it is a bit dangerous to let money owed to you by companies build up, there are a lot of them declaring insolvency, in which case it is very difficult to get your money at all.

 

couple of questions

 

How does your husband get paid normally? ( does he invoice the guy, or does he put a time sheet in etc..)

 

Has the guy given any reason for the non payment? ( not happy with the work/ cash flow problems etc)

 

Has he made any attempt at part payment or offered anything to suggest that he does intend to pay?

 

in the meantime, what I would suggest is to get a breakdown of exactly what he owes your husband & what date the payment/s were due. put this together in a letter to the guy headed 'account overdue'. Request that he contact you to arrange payment and give him time to respond ( 7/14 days) see if that gets a response.

 

If that doesn't get a response, ( or one that you are unhappy with) then you can send him a letter before action, giving him details of the debt & a set amount of time in which to pay it, advising him that if the debt is not paid by that date, you will begin court proceedings and will be entitled to claim interest at 8% on the debt, aswell as the cost of the proceedings.

 

hth

hunni

[madmax1973]

Thanks BF & H2006

 

Unfortunately he has worked for the builder for about 3yrs now and he normally would invoice him. This time he hasnt because he said he will pay in stage payments. my husband does have a record of what works were completed by himself but no actual dates. (Between March and September) The customer has not been happy either because the work has taking so long.(not my husbands work) The other problem is that the customer is the sister-in-law to the builder (hope this makes sense) we cant see them going against him altho they are very annoyed with him themselves. They said they have put it down to experiance and would not use him again. The customer still comes to my husband tho and gets him to work direct for them.

 

I do know that the builder has had 17k out of the job and sent 10k abroard for works to be completed on his luxury place in Dubi. (nice eh?)He has no written agreement with the guy as their was no need before..... obviously we wre wrong

[madmax1973]

Ps,

 

The customer is more than happy with his work

 

The builder payed £1000 last month but we need the rest... it gone on too long now.

Edited November 16, 2009 by madmax1973
More info added

[squidward]

You need to act fast on this!

 

Send a statement and a 7 day LBA and start court proceedings as soon as you can, this guy is obviously just stringing you along, using your money to pay more pressing debts or paying the one who shouts loudest.

 

Send LBA and stick to your guns don't allow him any wriggle room!

 

Squidward

[hunni2006]

hi max

 

personally, having had the same problem myself, the first thing I would definitely do is ask the customer for a letter of satisfaction regarding your husband's contribution to the job as a whole.

(if it gets to court, they can't change their mind & side with the brother in law)

 

Then I would create an invoice, showing the full balance payable & include the £1000 that he has already paid, and show quite clearly the balance due, include that with a letter as described above saying the account is overdue, & see if he gets in touch with some sort of offer of payment, or proposal for installments.

[hunni2006]

then follow up with the LBA & court proceedings.

 

I think it is important that you are able to show that you have done everything possible prior to court action.

[squidward]

Hi Max

 

I agree with Hunni but - do not allow them to make an arrangement that is not acceptable to you, there are allot of companies who are struggling due to the banks lack of flexibility. this builder will try and turn his short term debt into long term debt to free up his cash flow and reduce his monthly commitments.

 

I would go in and get your money after all he's owed the money for some time so he has known he has the debt and has had enough time to settle it.

 

Do an up to date statement and LBA if he wonts to make an arrangement I would ask for the monies to be paid in full in the shortest time frame you can get him to commit i.e 30 days. If he wont agree start court proceedings. when he See's you mean business he will probably pay the £4000.00. At this point you have nothing to loose as there is no point in having a customer that can't pay for the work he's asked you to do.

 

You can do this and still be polite and not necessarily fall out - you might even get a bit of respect in the process.

 

Kind Regards

 

Squidward

[madmax1973]

Hi everyone,

 

Many many thanks for all the good advice. I am now going to put this all in practice now..... wish me luck!

 

My husband has spoken to the customer and he is willing to sign a letter of satisfaction, so this is our first step and then comes the "polite" letter to the builder requesting payment..... will keep you informed when i know more !

[hunni2006]

:)Good luck.