Tarmac Driveway done by Tom Diggins Stockport Driveways, judgment plus costs - ***WON***

[BankFodder]

Well you should certainly stick by the deadline which you have set out in your letter of claim.

However, as his letter is a response to a different letter from you, I think you should establish a paper trail by pointing out that at no time did you express any satisfaction with any part of the job which have been done and that in fact you have copies of a series of messages which you sent to him which show in fact that you were always unhappy and you told him about that.
Remind him that the clock is still ticking and that you will be disclosing all documents to the court.

Tell him that if he wants to have his own independent assessment carried out then he is welcome to do so – by appointment with you – and you will be very happy for him to allow his own independent inspectors to carry out their own report and provide their conclusions to you and also to submit a copy to the court.

[smithy49]

Hi, Is there anyone available to give my particulars of claim the once over before I submit it please? Thank you in advance

[BankFodder]

Just post it up

[smithy49]

POC.docx

[BankFodder]

I've had a very brief look and the first thing that occurs to me is that it is far too long. You won't be able to fit it into the word limit which is provided on the money claim website which means that you will have to indicate that you are sending additional particulars of claim.
This is unnecessarily complicated and I'm sure that we can arrive at a form of words which does the trick and you can simply's send off online without having to do anything else.

[BankFodder]

See if there is anything you want to add here – and see if it fits in the character limit that you are granted on the money claim website.

Of course check also that it is all correct and you are prepared to sign off as a statement of truth

 

Quote

The claimant used the services of the defendant to install a tarmac driveway and brick border at his home and a total cost of £6200. The claimant paid the defendant sums on account totalling £3186.
The defendant completed the work without adequate skill and care and the work was defective but has refused to address any of the defects. The claimant has obtained assessments of the quality of the works which confirm the defective nature and also quotations for addressing the problems which include removing material installed by the defendant, making good the surface in preparation for the reinstallation of the contracted work. The cost of this necessary remedial work caused by the defendant's defective workmanship is £5050 – in addition to the cost of contracting the resurfacing work to a new contractor. The defendant has been appraised of all defects and independent assessments. The claimant seeks reimbursement of £3186 plus cost of remedial work £5050 – total £8236+ interest on £3186 paid on account pursuant to section 69 County Courts act 1984 plus costs.

 

[smithy49]

Thank you very much,. Mine did fit in but yours is obviously much more professional. The only sentence I will need to amend is the statement that the defendant refused to address any of the defects. He offered to seal the driveway and point the gaps in the brickwork but this was deemed as pointless by the companies we brought in to assess the work

[BankFodder]

Don't put that in. You need to keep it minimal. Wait until the defendant makes those arguments and then you can produce a response to them. Don't provide clues. Simply establish the minimum needed to bring your action and that's all.

It seems to me that it is quite correct to say that he refused to address the defects. From what you say, he was simply suggesting some cosmetic adjustments.

Don't add anything more

I've crossed out a couple of words in the proposed draft above.

[smithy49]

Good advice as ever, thank you.

 

In the timeline, do we address him as the defendant or by name?

 

Also, we found out that he had been falsely advertising and runs numerous websites with fake addresses. Is this evidence relevant for the claim to build up a character picture or do we leave that out?

[BankFodder]

As always it is all correct, you send it as is. He will be addressed by name in the heading to the claim which you presumably have already put in as part of your preparation. Calling him the defendant is fine.

You don't need to mention about his advertisements and websites et cetera – but on the other hand make a collection of them and get screenshots of everything in case they suddenly disappear.

You can often use the "print" function on your web browser to download pages from his website in PDF format. Get these, store them and make sure you have got backup copies in case you have some catastrophic computer accident.

[smithy49]

Thank you, I have screenshots of everything and have printed them all for my file!

[smithy49]

Hi, 

 

Today is the deadline date for the defendant to respond. I have just found an email from him in my junk folder that was sent at 21.29 yesterday:

 

I am emailing you regarding the emails I have received about the court case. As you know it was a 3rd party who installed the tarmac and not myself. They assured me it would bed in and this is what I confirmed to you. I have offered to have the tarmac put right and go over what your not happy with but without being granted permission to rectify there isn't much else I can do. Before we go down the route of court I am willing to make an out off court settlement and refund your deposit back in full (£3,000). Please confirm your decision as soon as possible before I begin to prepare my defense and appoint a solicitor. 

 

Our claim is for £8606.02 so we do not want to settle at £3000.00. 

 

I would appreciate any advice on whether to respond to the email and reject the claim outright and continue later to ask for a judgment or whether to go back and say the least we amount we will accept in order to withdraw the claim and to give him a date that it must be in our account or we will pass it for judgment.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you

 

 

[smithy49]

Many thanks

I should add that he has just put a request in for a further 14 days to respond

[smithy49]

Hi,

 

Is anyone available to advise whether we should have had notification on what basis the defendant has asked for a further 14 days to respond? There is no further information on the account.

 

I am assuming we will receive something by email or post if we need to submit any further paperwork.

 

Thanks

[BankFodder]

Sorry. I meant to respond yesterday but I overlooked it.

Can you just remind me of where we are, have you issued the claim? What is his request for 14 days extra?

[smithy49]

Its quite alright, I know you are busy and appreciate any advice you can give.

 

We issued our claim and the deadline was 4pm on Monday 10th May.

 

I found an email from him in my junk mail on Monday morning and I copied it in my post on Monday

 

 He was offering to pay us £3000.00. Before I could respond, I received an email from the Court service to say he had requested a 14 day extension to respond. It doesnt say on what basis he is responding though.

When I say I copied it in my post, I mean on this thread

 

[BankFodder]

When did he send this email? You found it on Monday – by accident in your spam folder. It's very important that you take control of your communication system. You can't afford not to notice messages which are sent you when you are litigating against somebody.

What was the date of the email he sent you?

Hang on I've seen the date. He sent it to you on the Sunday apparently – so not very long ago.

[smithy49]

Yes, he sent it at 21.29 on 9th May. He has changed the name on his email so I think thats why it was in my junk but I regularly check it anyway

[BankFodder]

I think you should give him a couple of days extension – but write him a letter and tell him that in view of the fact that he has by and large been ignoring all of your correspondence and has only started responding as a result of your serious threat of legal action, you will be issuing the promised action – but you are giving him a short extension until (say, Friday night) in order for him to make a proper proposal which must address your claim completely and without condition.

Point out to him that is offer is unacceptable. Furthermore you have offered him an opportunity to have the work inspected by an independent inspector and so far he has not taken you up on this – and you confirm that you have no confidence in him.

Tell him that you have already provided him with written details of independent assessments which confirm that the work needs to be redone and this is your only position.

Tell him that if he does not make an immediate acceptable proposal, then you will proceed to issue the legal action. He will incur not only the cost of satisfying the claim but also interest on the sum claimed and also the litigation costs.
Tell him that you are extending your deadline until Friday night simply to give him an opportunity to mitigate his losses and he should not interpret the extension as anything else.

Tell him that the claim will be issued online Friday evening and it is likely that he will be served with the papers by next Wednesday.

Does that cover everything?

 

[BankFodder]

Let us know what he comes up with – but in principle you will probably have to issue the claim on Friday evening. I thought it might be worth trying one last time to reach out to him to try and get a proper settlement in place.

If there is an offer of a settlement then I think that you would have to agree some means of supervising the work and this means that you will both have to agree upon an independent assessor who will check the quality of the work and sign it off.
Of course in order to have the work done, there will have to be some money available and so I think that it might be worth thinking about arranging an escrow.

It's all a bit messy and of course an escrow would have to be paid for – but you need to secure your position and not end up getting into a financial arrangement with a new builder without having the money upfront from Diggins.
It's most unlikely that he will agree to anything like this – but if he did then it would accelerate things enormously. If you end up having to sue him and he causes any resistance – then it is unlikely to be settled for anything up to 6 months and maybe longer.

But why it's probably worth going the last mile to get an agreement which avoids litigation
 

[smithy49]

Thanks but we have already issued the claim and he has had papers issued to him.

 

He had until 4pm on 10th May to respond and because we hadnt heard anything we were going to pass it for judgment.

 

However, then I received his offer email but before I could reply he submitted a request to the court service for a further 14 days to respond. 

 

I am unsure if this extension is for him to submit a defence to the court or to respond to us?

 

 

[smithy49]

He has until 24th May to respond and after that we can apply for a CCJ if nothing has been done

 

[BankFodder]

Okay. I hadn't understood.

In case he has filed an acknowledgement of service and that gives him 28 days to file a defence from the date that the claim was served upon him. So add (three days, I think) onto the date that you issued the claim and then a further 28 days from then.
When he files his defence, then let us see it in PDF format.

In the meantime, it might be an idea to send them a letter saying that as he knows, the claim is continuing that you are certainly prepared to enter discussions with him about how to resolve the matter although you will be applying for judgement – but if he will come up with proper proposals which meet your claim in full, then you will hold off executing the judgement once it is obtained.
Point out to him that if he does try to defend the claim then you will simply proceed in your own best interests and he should be aware that he will be incurring further costs not only of the litigation but also of the cost of enforcement when you eventually win.

Tell him that your offer to him to visit your home and to carry out his own independent inspection is still open and he can take advantage of that and any time as long as he arranges an appointment.
 

[smithy49]

Thank you so much for your help. 

 

I will come back to you as if and when he submits a defence.

 

Have a good evening

[BankFodder]

Monitor the MoneyClaim site closely around the day 28 to 31 and if you get an opportunity to apply the judgement then do it immediately.

Then we will help you to enforce judgement which you should do by having the case transferred up to the High Court enforcement officers.

Let us know how it goes and also if he responds to you at all