Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months. HELP

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Thank you all, the build was 92k and I paid 78k or there abouts , but they didn't supply certain items such as a kitchen or bathroom and recycled other bits like re-using my old windows instead of new . I haven't got the figures to hand at the mo. to be exact

The RICS surveyors were from a list that were court approved given to me by my solicitor when I was trying to claim off them initially then realised they didn't have anything so never pursued it.I thought no good spending good money after bad.

All this was on my previous house, I have since moved 180 miles away.

The building was just such a problem after my Mum finally moved in and a constant reminder of all the stress so even though my Mum couldn't be cured the Dr's assured us they could keep her well for some time to come and at worst another year as she was a very fit woman.

This is when we decided we couldn't stay any longer at the house and decided to move to my dream home so we could have one last adventure together . I paid 465k for that house 8 years previously and only sold it for 25 k more even though it had doubled in size, but due to the errors in the annexe I felt it wouldn't be worth anymore if the new owners completed every job. The render which had to come off couldn't be done as my Mum had asbestosis cancer and the dust would have ended her life there and then, a risk we couldn't take. We did allow the builders to come back twice to rectify it before she moved in but they just made things worse.

Thankfully i sold the house very quickly and exchanged after a few weeks and then for some reason my Mum became very ill very quickly. After 3 weeks we realised Mum wouldn't be able to come with me and I couldn't afford to back out as we'd exchanged.

I had to pay for the tenants who were renting her house to end the tenancy 3 months early so my Mum could go back home as she was unable to travel with me. I was doing the 180 mile round trip every few days to visit and my daughter was looking after her at this point .

She subsequently died in February and this is when her probate solicitor got a letter from RH legal, and so this is how it all unfolded.

To be honest I am at my wits end but after thinking really hard I can't fight these people alone so I have now got my solicitor appointed and I'm going to suggest not only to counter sue but also for compensation due to the stress this has caused . I know I won't get a penny but this has to stop once and for all.

I can't prove the threatening calls as they weren't recorded but the main builder had emailed during times of inebriation as he gets very aggressive. Thankfully I kept all these emails and never deleted them along with all the pictures

I will keep you all informed as i progress and now just waiting to get a phone call to see how we progress. The thing that really grieves me is that it is going to cost me and when I win (hopefully) it still won't cost them anything.

[des8]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

What a terrible time you've had recently!
Thank you for letting us know, and I wish you well for the future.
Would appreciate it if you could manage to keep us informed as your experiences might help others.

[Captain Haddock]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Subbed, if only to wish you the best of luck against these charlatans, bb41.

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Thank you for your kindness and I will definitely keep you all informed and hopefully I might come out the other side feeling better.

My solicitor has just got in touch and she is just doing conflict checks first and will hopefully let me know by end of day.

I dread it but feel I have no choice

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Update so far ::

Yesterday I spent nearly six hours printing off all correspondence from builders and I and reading everything that had gone on. It made painful reading I can tell you.

I came across many contradictory statements one of which I sent to the no win no fee solicitor. They are claiming 19k but on an email I received from the builders back in July last year they stated it was 15K, now I know I don't agree with that figure anyway it just goes to show how dishonest these people really are . I also sent across the full report to him as initially it was only the surveyors budget costs. It contained 5 pages of what was wrong on the build.

I paid 500.00 for the survey from a company I had had no dealings from in the past but they accused me of doctoring the report and persuading the surveyor to lie !!!

I did read that as they didn't agree with the surveyors report they wanted to get there own in but by this time it was June and 7 months after the start of the project. Plus I was not going to pay for the new survey they wanted, and to be honest I couldn't stand the sight of them any longer.

It made very interesting but painful reading and now a huge file is winging it off to my solicitor. When I spoke to her a couple of days ago she was doing conflict of interest checks and she said she would probably just stop the case going to court which would be far better and more cost effective rather than going for a full on counter sue when they basically don.t have a pot to pee in . I think only if this solicitor still wants to push on then we will have to see what to do.

I also proved via theses emails the abuse and threats plus libellous statements he wrote , usually late at night after a few beers .

As it progresses I will keep you all informed. It doesn't matter even when the evidence is stacked up against them you still worry if someone would look at it differently

[Amethyst]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

It sounds like you have a good solicitor. And if you can manage the fees, it will be worthwhile to bring this to a close for good. A decent response to them from your solicitor may well see them scurrying off.

On the surveyors report you had done, I'm sure if needed you could get in touch with them and ask for a witness statement which expresses their independence etc.

It doesn't matter even when the evidence is stacked up against them you still worry if someone would look at it differently

I completely understand what you mean, we have a guy in court today defending a case that from this end looks completely utterly insane and can't imagine a court taking it seriously, but still have those fears that the judge might not see through the crap put up by the other side and let it continue.

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Amethyst how did it go in court today ????

I've printed off emails from the surveyors and one said the report was sent to be quality assured, surely that should help to ascertain the report was not concocted , but they will write if necessary to stand by all the report findings .

Nothing to be heard for the weekend but hopefully it should build some momentum next week when my solicitor can spend some time looking over the reams of paperwork I've sent

[Amethyst]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Its going to full trial in January....multitrack court (£30k odd claim) insane but there we go, wheels of justice turn slowly I guess. xxx

Keep us in the loop and feel free to just have a rant if it gets on top of you at all.

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

I never know why legal stuff takes so long, sadly peoples lives suffer for it.

Was it the outcome you were expecting ???

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Just a small update on where we are at with this.
after signing all the bits of paper to instruct my solicitor, and her doing all the conflict of interest checks and then spending most of a day printing emails, all correspondence between the builders and I plus all the photographic evidence , I think we are finally going to get on with things this week.

My solicitor seems to think the best way initially is to defend the claim rather than go head to head with a counter claim at this point. She contacted me Friday as she needed clarification on a couple of documents .

Rupert Hills gave me 7 days to respond but my solicitor contacted him and stated that he would get a reply within 2 weeks to give her time to do the necessary checks and familiarise herself with the case . Hopefully I will have a proper update this week.

Just one thing happened towards the latter end of last week, I received an email from Rupert Hills, (I have since found out he is connected to the builders through a mutual interest of theirs) no surprise really. The email was obviously sent in error to me but it contained all the details of another case he was working on !!!!! Competent or what ????

As soon as I have a proper update I will post

[des8]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Thanks for keeping us updated.
Bit surprised your solicitor is not counter claiming, but assume she is in possession of more details than us.

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Thanks Des, I think it was more to do with costs at this point..... but it's not set in stone.

I have a small update.... My solicitor has been in touch with Rupert Hills in the past 10 days it seems on more than one occasion. The email I had yesterday evening was that Rupert Hills has agreed his client will take no further steps until July 13th. I'm not sure what this means , can't see it's a holiday or else I would have been told this surely. I emailed my solicitor back but it was late so hopefully I will here today.

My question is this ...If I do stop this case and they don't wish to proceed any further, can I get an injunction to stop them following me wherever I go.? The reason I ask is I have a small and I do mean small business which I have used a website to promote it. On 2 occasions one of the builders has followed me on a social media business page. I'm worried that he will put negative views about me . The last page I had I took down as he made no attempt to hide who he was and contacted me asking for more information on what I was doing. Apart from being creepy as he is a strange one it's worrying. Each time I have blocked him but I shouldn't have to do this .

[des8]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

I've just flicked back through the thread and seen that it is unlikely the builder could satisfy any successful claim against him (no assets) and therefore not worth the candle to counter claim.

Perhaps they're considering discontinuing.

Re the harassment by email and the social media, I suspect you could obtain an injunction (others here will know better) and it might be worth asking your solicitor about it. Perhaps a quick letter from her warning them off might have the desired effect.

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Des , Thanks.I haven't deserted anyone just waiting to get the draft letter over to RH legal. It seems to be taking forever. Hopefully tomorrow and now with all the facts my solicitor is ready to reply.I will let you all know what happens as soon as I do.My solicitor has at least stopped any harassing emails from RHL since she has been instructed and has agreed to every extension possible thus far.A court injunction will be applied if I feel there is a chance of winning the case, or should I say someone agreeing I don't owe money for what I didn't receive

[bb41]

Re: Cowboy builders taking me to court with a no win no fee lawyer after 16 months.

Update time :

Last Thursday RH Legal received a reply.

It stated that I did not owe 19k as they insisted, after going through all the correspondence my solicitor worked out I only owed 2800, she stated that if R H legal clients wanted to pursue me for this amount then we would counter claim the 16.5K repair bill, compensation for breaking contract and emotional stress caused.

To date we have not heard anything.

Will update the reply as soon as I get it