do I need to pay? hired a guy to do my garden.

[be96erj]

I hired a guy to do my garden.

He invoiced me £250 to start the work.

I forgot to pay it.

A day later he completed the work and the work was awful

- really badly done.

He invoiced me a further £250, which I paid.

 

A week later he sends me a snotty letter saying that I owed him the money for the first invoice.

However, I stated I am not willing to pay it because I cleared what was owed on the second and final invoice.

 

Does anyone know what the law says about this?

 

thanks

[mariner51]

No but Trading Standards may have an opinion.

[king12345]

Did he quote £250 or £500 to do the work?

[Ethel Street]

If he quoted £500 in total with £250 payable in advance and £250 on completion then paying only the second invoice does not mean you aren't liable to pay the first invoice. If he quoted £500 and you've only paid £250 then it wouldn't be true that you "cleared what was owed on the second and final invoice", you still owe £250. If you are going to dispute the balance of £250 for some other reason - quality of work done for instance - then you will have to contest it on those grounds. The order you paid the invoices in is irrelevant.

[disgruntled2007]

And you complained about the standard of work before paying? In writing? Email? Face to face?

[steampowered]

The law says that you have to pay the agreed price of the service.

 

If the agreed price was £500, that is what you have to pay. If no price was agreed, it will be a reasonable amount for the services provided.

 

The law also says that services must be provided with reasonable care and skill. If this was not done, the gardener will be in breach of contract. In this case you would be entitled to reduce your payment by the cost of putting the work right.

 

You might be able to say you aren't paying the first invoice because the work was done to a poor standard. But if this is the case you are expected to give him a chance to put it right.

 

It makes no difference whether the price is split over one or many invoices. The number / order of invoices makes no difference.