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Hi all,
First off, apologies if this is not the right section for this thread. I had a search around and it seemed most appropriate, but please feel free to redirect me if necessary.
I posted a job in the middle of May via myjobquote.co.uk to have a patio built on a section of our garden. I was contacted by three tradesmen who each came round to the house and quoted for the job, and we ended up giving the job to one of the three in the middle of June, paying a £500 deposit. We sourced the patio slabs ourselves, but the builder was sourcing all other materials. The agreement was that the job would be done at the end of that month (June).
Since then, there have been two half days of work to dig out & lay some footings and some materials have been delivered, but that is it. The builder has made numerous promises about getting the work done and deliveries being made to site but has failed on almost everyone single one. Where I have been particularly stupid is before the work started, he asked for the bulk of the rest of money to pay for the materials, hire equipment, etc, which I paid to him in good faith.
It got to the point where I have no confidence in him doing the work in any sort of timely manner and I requested via email last Monday (10th August) he return the money, minus the two half days of work and the cost of the materials. He agreed to do this by the Friday (14th). He failed to do that citing an excuse about online banking problems, and he said he would transfer it on Saturday. Again, he failed to return the money.
I'm now getting no response from him, so want to know what legal action I can take to recoup my money. I'm thinking via the small claims court may be best, but never had to deal with anything like this so hoping for some guidance.
One final kicker, I have subsequently dug further into the company he claims to be trading through (initially I read reviews on myjobquote & trusted that as a source, another mistake!) and it turns out it was dissolved in 2018, so I'm assuming I would need to take him as an individual to court and not the dissolved company. His quote included VAT in it, so I'm guessing he is acting fraudulently on top of everything else!
Any guidance is gratefully welcomed, thank you in advance.
First off, apologies if this is not the right section for this thread. I had a search around and it seemed most appropriate, but please feel free to redirect me if necessary.
I posted a job in the middle of May via myjobquote.co.uk to have a patio built on a section of our garden. I was contacted by three tradesmen who each came round to the house and quoted for the job, and we ended up giving the job to one of the three in the middle of June, paying a £500 deposit. We sourced the patio slabs ourselves, but the builder was sourcing all other materials. The agreement was that the job would be done at the end of that month (June).
Since then, there have been two half days of work to dig out & lay some footings and some materials have been delivered, but that is it. The builder has made numerous promises about getting the work done and deliveries being made to site but has failed on almost everyone single one. Where I have been particularly stupid is before the work started, he asked for the bulk of the rest of money to pay for the materials, hire equipment, etc, which I paid to him in good faith.
It got to the point where I have no confidence in him doing the work in any sort of timely manner and I requested via email last Monday (10th August) he return the money, minus the two half days of work and the cost of the materials. He agreed to do this by the Friday (14th). He failed to do that citing an excuse about online banking problems, and he said he would transfer it on Saturday. Again, he failed to return the money.
I'm now getting no response from him, so want to know what legal action I can take to recoup my money. I'm thinking via the small claims court may be best, but never had to deal with anything like this so hoping for some guidance.
One final kicker, I have subsequently dug further into the company he claims to be trading through (initially I read reviews on myjobquote & trusted that as a source, another mistake!) and it turns out it was dissolved in 2018, so I'm assuming I would need to take him as an individual to court and not the dissolved company. His quote included VAT in it, so I'm guessing he is acting fraudulently on top of everything else!
Any guidance is gratefully welcomed, thank you in advance.
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