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Im looking for some advice on behalf of my elderly mother.
In june 2012, in Edinburgh, she had a problem with a sewage pipe at her property. She lives alone, and is quite a vulnerable person. She made the mistake of calling a plumber from the yellow pages. He fixed the immediate problem, but told her that further work was required to put the drainage right permenantly. He asked her in a friendly way "shall I go ahead and fix it?" and she said yes please, because he seemed like a nice man.
On the basis of this agreement, without a quote either verbal or in writing, or any indication of what his rates or the total cost might be, he began extensive and unnecesary works at the property. To cut a long story short he sent her a bill for £10,500, which is between four and five times the cost I was quoted by other local plumbers. Her property was valued at £80k, and much of the equity was already owned by an equity release company.
This far exceeded her ability to pay, and her insurance did not cover the outdoor plumbing. Finally she called me in a deperate panic - I told her not to worry, because the law surely would be on her side, and we wouldn't pay until he submitted a more reasonable bill.
How wrong I was - the law, certainly in Scotland, is very helpful to people like this. He was very familiar with what to do next, and although he'd broken the law with respect to doorstep trading and cooling off periods, we were informed that there was no choice but to go ahead and pay him, so in the end he made me an offer in writing to pay a sum in full and final settlement, which I did.
4 and a half years later, my mother has finally found a buyer for her house. Everything was going fine, until our conveyancing solicitor informed us that this person had taken out an inhibition on the property in 2012. He did not lift it when I settled the debt. When our solicitor contacted him, he agreed that the debt had been settled, but realising that we were in a vulnerable position, he started demanding money to lift the inhibition. He started by asking for £500, but yesterday he decided he wanted £900.
What now? Do we just have to pay him? I find it difficult to believe that this is legal, but at this point nothing would surprise me about the Scottish legal system.
Anybody got any ideas?
Thanks, Steve
In june 2012, in Edinburgh, she had a problem with a sewage pipe at her property. She lives alone, and is quite a vulnerable person. She made the mistake of calling a plumber from the yellow pages. He fixed the immediate problem, but told her that further work was required to put the drainage right permenantly. He asked her in a friendly way "shall I go ahead and fix it?" and she said yes please, because he seemed like a nice man.
On the basis of this agreement, without a quote either verbal or in writing, or any indication of what his rates or the total cost might be, he began extensive and unnecesary works at the property. To cut a long story short he sent her a bill for £10,500, which is between four and five times the cost I was quoted by other local plumbers. Her property was valued at £80k, and much of the equity was already owned by an equity release company.
This far exceeded her ability to pay, and her insurance did not cover the outdoor plumbing. Finally she called me in a deperate panic - I told her not to worry, because the law surely would be on her side, and we wouldn't pay until he submitted a more reasonable bill.
How wrong I was - the law, certainly in Scotland, is very helpful to people like this. He was very familiar with what to do next, and although he'd broken the law with respect to doorstep trading and cooling off periods, we were informed that there was no choice but to go ahead and pay him, so in the end he made me an offer in writing to pay a sum in full and final settlement, which I did.
4 and a half years later, my mother has finally found a buyer for her house. Everything was going fine, until our conveyancing solicitor informed us that this person had taken out an inhibition on the property in 2012. He did not lift it when I settled the debt. When our solicitor contacted him, he agreed that the debt had been settled, but realising that we were in a vulnerable position, he started demanding money to lift the inhibition. He started by asking for £500, but yesterday he decided he wanted £900.
What now? Do we just have to pay him? I find it difficult to believe that this is legal, but at this point nothing would surprise me about the Scottish legal system.
Anybody got any ideas?
Thanks, Steve
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