Builder withholding £18k and suspect he's not telling the truth..

[Billus]

We are a sub-contracting firm and this concerns a residential refurbishment. The main contractor has not paid £18k of our bills. He says that the architect has not paid the money to him regards our work as it is deemed incomplete or as unauthorized extra work. I have a good relationship with the architect and the home owner but can not deal directly with them as a result of the structure of the contract (albeit I've never signed or seen any such contract but I believe it's between the builder and the architect). I suspect and have indications as a result of conversations with the architect that much of this £18k has been paid to the builder for our works but he is keeping it to cover his own losses (he has fallen out with the architect and owner). I have requested to see a breakdown of payments and what they cover so that I can rightly claim the money owed for our work. No-one will provide me with this breakdown and my requests fall on deaf ears. Where do I go from here? Do I have any legal right to see what works the architect has paid the builder for? We submit quotes to the builder and he simply adds his mark up and submits them to the architect. It can be clearly seen which works we have done and completed. We also have submitted a list of detailed variations (extras) which I believe to have been partly settled by the architect but for which the builder is giving us no money.Any help much appreciated. Thanks.Will

[pepsie]

Re: Builder withholding £18k and suspect he's not telling the truth..

Are main contractors and/or the Architect registered companies? if yes then you could start by sending an SAR (subject access request) under the Data Protection Act 1998. they have 40 days to reply. This will show payments due to you for works completed, there is nothing to stop you arranging a meeting with both the architect and the owner to get a clearer picture of what is going on as you have the right to know..there is no contract with them so nothing to prevent that happening. Alternatively file N1 claim for the monies due to you and in the process you can ask for disclosure to a breakdown of the payments...£80 but a goodshort cut to make the builder sit up and pay attention.

Pepsie