Court Claim Company or Person

[stephen81]

Good morning

I had some building work done, but there is quite a lot on the snagging list and the builder isn't coming back to finish the work. We've been through the snagging list and he's agreed to do it, but then there's been excuse after excuse for why he can't come when arranged, and now he's no longer communicating.

I intend to take this to the small claims court, but I'm unsure who it is best to name as the defendant.

The company is a father and son operation. Father is approaching retirement age. Both were directors at one point, but son ceased being a director, and has now started his own company in the same line of work.

The quote we got for the work was from the company (albeit the son put the quote together with input from the various sub-contractors they use).

When we started the work, the son asked for some money up front to cover initial materials and wages, and suggested we keep some money back at the end (10% if I recall) until the work has been completely finished. Then pretty much weekly through the job, the son asked for more money to cover the work done that week and materials for the coming week. So there were no official invoices but I have all the messages requesting payment and confirming payment was received. Perhaps in hindsight I should have asked for everything to be invoiced.

it turns out the bank details provided to us for making the payments were the son's personal account details rather than the company account. I therefore suspect that he avoided putting most (if not all) the money through the company to avoid having to account for it properly. I'm also concerned that if I sue the company and win, the company won't have any money to pay out (due to not putting income through the books, and especially with the father approaching retirement - it would be easy for them to just fold the company) and I'll end up with nothing.

Smy question is, if the work was arranged by the son, all the communication regarding payment was with the son, the payments were made to the son's personal account rather than the company account, and no invoices were raised by the company mean that I could sue the son in person, rather than (or as well as) the company? And can I name both the son (personally) and the company as defendants on my claim, and are there any advantages or disadvantages to doing so?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BankFodder]

What is the name of the company?
What is the name of the father?
What is the name of the sun?

What was the value of the entire job?
How much did you pay to the son – the money that went into his account?

Do you have the residential address?

You could have difficulties here. I'm not really sure why you agree to such a small margin before the job was properly finished.

What is the value of the outstanding work?

[stephen81]

Hi BankFodder,

Thanks for your prompt response!

I intentionally haven't named the company, the father or the son here in case they happen to see the post. I am happy to name them when I get further down the road.

I have residential addresses for the father already and should be able to get the residential address for the son too.

The original job was quoted just under £29k.

Around £7k of additional work was added on during the job.

We've paid around £34.7k, so a little over £1k is outstanding.

Their quote included an offer to pay 50% of the cost of shutters (from a separate company) for the front of the house.

In hindsight I should have held back a larger amount, but I am where I am.

The value of the outstanding work is relatively small to them, it wouldn't cost them a much to fix the snagging items, but the cost to me to get someone else to do it or rectify it myself is much larger. For example, we had a new boiler fitted, which they sourced. The front panel of the boiler has a dent in it. They were going to contact the supplier and get it replaced, which would be free of charge for them. If I want to replace the panel though, then my only choice is to buy one, at approximately £340.

Including the 50% contribution to shutters, my estimate (based on quotes from other builders) is around £6-7k.

Anyway, my question is more whether I can sue the son as an individual on the basis that it was actually him we paid for the work, instead of or in addition to suing the company?

Thanks in advance.

[BankFodder]

I think I would sue them as first defendant and second defendant.

Of course if they are trying to avoid dealing with it then I suppose they could easily say that the son was working for the father's company and that the payment to his personal account was simply an administrative matter. It might be that nobody would believe it – but it could be an argument which would be accepted.

It's a shame that you are name them. As long as you are honest and straight dealing then there is nothing wrong with putting their names up. Does it really matter if they see these posts? What are you trying to hide?

Another approach might be to try and argue that the additional work was a contract directly with the son. You have to you describe to us how that work was commissioned

[stephen81]

Not all of the snagging relates to the additional work, so even if I can argue that was a contract directly with the son, it doesn't help with the rest, but that's a good point.

It could matter if they see these posts at this stage. It might be that a LBA to the son (I assume I'd need to send one to the company and one to the son

if I'm going to name them as first and second defendants) might be sufficient to get some more of the snagging dealt with, or settled, without having to actually go to court, especially if the son realises he might be personally liable rather than just hiding behind the limited company.

But part of the advice you're giving is (quite rightly) highlighting possible routes they could go down to argue against my case for him being personally liable.

I don't really want to hand them that advice on a platter.