Builder Dispute now Court Claim Received, Advice Needed

[Dave Support Worker]

OK, I shall have to put something together pdq, Sol told me not to bring anything. Better safe than sorry I suppose.

 

And King1234, I am reliably informed (too late obviously) that they are cowboys, job looks fine for a while but soon deteriorates, I was lucky that I have a very small amount of build knowledge and did a lot of googlesque research during and after the work.

[Mike_hawk]

Your sol is correct [in the main].....prelims can however quickly turn into disposal hearings and if you're not prepared for a question or don't have some form of evidence to support your position the directions that follow could in effect dismiss part/s of your defence and cc

[Dave Support Worker]

OK thanks, have prepared a pack inc reports on errors, photos and quotes to fix. Fingers crossed he just doesn't turn up (if that helps me?) but we shall see.

 

Once again, appreciate the input from everyone.

[Dave Support Worker]

Well that was reasonably stress free. Apart from their sol saying they had sent ours stuff late yesterday, they never received it, also not forwarding other paperwork as they should, sneaky.

 

Judge was fair and obviously wanted the minimum input from sols (as you lot said previously), also hi-lighted the legal costs of going to full hearing could outstrip the claim. Now this wouldn't have affected me as all my legal stuff is paid for but wisely I didnt say anything, didnt want to sound smug. Told to go and talk about it with builder and sols.

 

Result being Tomlin Order now in place giving builder x amount of time to demolish and rebuild the job to correct spec and to my satisfaction. Dropped small part of my claim with regard one issue as according to my sol it was pretty much a non starter as his word against mine, tend to agree with them on that. So fairly happy, its going to be dam awkward having them back but my sol pointed out that if they breach any of the conditions they are in deep doodoo, whatever that is.

 

So the stress probably isnt over yet, time for the next round of the fight.

 

Now one of you clever people is going to tell me the Tomlin is probably a bad idea?

[Dave Support Worker]

And the more I think about it the more concerned I get that I may have been too hasty accepting the compromise.

[Mike_hawk]

Tomlin should be fine Dave, it compromises the case with the terms of the order becoming the effective contract.

 

Did the other side have a schedule prepared or was it drawn up off the cuff between the sols?

[Dave Support Worker]

His sol drew one up on the day, I got mine to amend it giving more specific dates where things should be done, was re-written with amendment and signed and filed (or whatever its called).

 

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. I assume if its breached then the original action re-starts? Could I also assume that as he has agreed to rebuild this would be taken as an admission of guilt in some way, or is that too simple?

[Mike_hawk]

If its breached by either party the other side would be at liberty to apply to enforce the terms of the order.

 

The case is pretty much disposed of within the order, there's no admission as such, more a meeting of minds to enter into an agreement but with the added benefit that the case doesn't need to be proven (on balance), merely enforced if one side fails to comply.

[Dave Support Worker]

OK thanks for that, I think understand how this would work if it was purely a financial issue, for example say I owed a bank £100, order said pay £1 a week and I didnt then I would have breached the order and they could ask for the outstanding balance.

But in this case if he either doesn't stick to the timescale or doesn't complete the work as per the order he is in breach, how would this be enforced?, would the court just order him to carry out the work, or dismiss his claim for the payment for the work?

Just thinking worse case scenario at the mo, Mr Positivity me

[Mike_hawk]

It's difficult without sight of the schedule.

 

If it were a straightforward case without demolition/site clearance the order would usually be for payment subject to the build.......no rectifying of build = no payment, pointless and expensive to pursue for both sides.

 

I can only assume the order you engrossed stipulated a value/quantum if the other side were a total no show and you undertook the site clearance?

[Mike_hawk]

It's difficult without sight of the schedule.

 

If it were a straightforward case without demolition/site clearance the order would usually be for payment subject to the build.......no rectifying of build = no payment, pointless and expensive to pursue for both sides.

 

I can only assume the order you engrossed stipulated a value/quantum if the other side were a total no show and you undertook the site clearance?

[Dave Support Worker]

Payment is on completion of job to my satisfaction, that's about it, but with set time limits for completion.

[Dave Support Worker]

Well they turned, on the very last day allowed by the order, could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

Demolition underway.

Still not convinced they have the necessary skill to do this properly, or if they do will they, but that will be up to the legals to argue about if I am not satisfied with the result. Disappointed with other sides sol, very awkward and sneaky, missing letters and late replies etc, probably to be expected though.

[Dave Support Worker]

I knew it wasnt a good idea having them back, nearly finished, measurements checked and wrong again. Back to rip out 25% and re-do.