payment for conservatory that is not finished to satisfaction.

[bobby atkin]

My daughter is 30 she lives on her own with her little boy.She had a conservatory built by a man in his sixtys he quoted her 10.000 he wanted paying in cash,witch included the floor.The problem is he took over 3 months to do it coming for a few hours a day and he started making sexual remarks to her making her feel uncomfortable as he was old enough to be her dad.
On nearing completion she said she wanted slate tiles so she agreed to buy them herself they cost �450 he layed them and made a total mess of it all ups and downs and grout everywhere.She still owes him �1000 pounds and is threatening not to pay him because the tiles have to be taken up and she does not trust him to lay the second lot also she wants him out of the house he makes her skin crawl.
Do you think she is within her rights not to pay him.He says he will make her life a misery and other threats but it is giong to cost her nearly a thousand pounds to put the job right he also has a key that he wont give back.

[jackthehat]

As he wanted paying 'in cash' I presume there is nothing in writing to say what she has paid to him and when ? He doesn't have a leg to stand on................there is a legally binding verbal contract between them but I doubt if this has the scope provided by a written one, i.e. any remedial solutions, time constraints, penalty payments, etc.

I doubt if he is going to risk going down any legal route as he will have to explain the financial details in binding legal documents ! And a lot of 'cash-in-hand' jobs are not declared where they ought to be..............perhaps your daughter may like to drop hints about this to this creep ?

I agree that your daughter ought to be able to with-hold the amount that the remedial works will cost her. I always advise the retention of about 5% of the cost for a 3-month snagging period after the job has finished, to either concentrate the contractors mind in returning to correct any 'snags' OR to enable the works to be corrected by A.N.Other contractor for a sum still within the original price.

Your daughter must keep a record of any and all threats/suggestions made by this vile man. I'm afraid that the lock/s for which he has keys will need to be re-fitted, but would suggest that this cost is small in relation to the peace of mind your daughter will benefit from. There is no guarantee that he won't have made copies, so asking for return of the key is really neither here nor there.

[jackthehat]

Also, your daughter ought to compose a letter to him stating how much she is with-holding and why and send it to him using recorded delivery.
I don't think there is anything to be gained in her giving him opportunity to remedy the defects himself as he has proven himself to be unreliable on many fronts already.

If he does press for the money, your daughter ought to see a solicitor and ask for them to send a letter to him detailing her concerns and confirming her position.

Trading Standards might be interested in this chap, too !

[bobby atkin]

Thanks jack that info helps.This whole thing has made her ill .He had an electrician in and he didnt leave a certificate he wont give me the electricians number so i can speak to him about it,Turns out he lives next door to him ,so they are cap in hand together.

[jackthehat]

Well...........a surprise letter to the electrican requesting the certificate may do the trick. Pehaps, in this letter, your daughter could gently remind him that he has to be a legally registeredelectrician and MUST be able to give his registration number. Under Part P of the Building Regulations, the sparky ought to have completed and submitted the relevant forms to Building Control. Does your daughter know if this was done ?

If your daughter cannot get the certificate, she ought to seek out a reputable sparky who will be prepared to examine and test the completed works and complete the forms. The cost of this should also be with-held from the final amount paid.

[bobby atkin]

He said himself that he had never laid a slate floor before he wanted to put down laminate.So she do not like the idea of paying out another large amount for him to make a mess of again.She wanted something a little different than laminate.

[Ethel]

Don't complicate matters by mentioning Part P Building Regs - they do not apply to adding power points and light fittings to existing circuits for a new conservatory:

Work that is not in a kitchen or special location and does not involve a special installation and consists of:-

Adding lighting points (light fittings and switches) to an existing circuit

Adding socket outlets and fused spurs to an existing ring or radial circuit

Installing or upgrading main or supplementary equipotential bonding

Will not need not be notified to a Building Control Body

http://www.braintree.gov.uk/Braintree/planning /buildingcontrol/Build+Part+P.htm

Threaten to report the builder to the taxman. That should shut him up, especially if she found him through an advert.

[MustafaTickl]

Although the last paragraph of Ethel's post is well-intentioned under no circumstances act upon it. Without going into it all if this matter were to reach court such an action would go very badly against your daughter.

[dilligaf]

You quoted "he started making sexual remarks to her making her feel uncomfortable as he was old enough to be her dad"

Report this to the police.

They probably wont take any action but its on record. If it comes to a court case about his competence and general behavior your daughter may mention his attitude towards her.
She will be asked what she did about it, did she report it.
The answer is yes and it is now on record.

Sorry this will not solve your overall problem but it may be a bit of ammunition if you have to take it further.

Good luck.

[bobby atkin]

My daughter has today spoken to a local policeman that she knows and he told her if she rang the police they would take her to recover her key from him.

[terence7556]

i do not agree with ethels answer regarding the electrical works. whether or not it is reportable isn,t the issue but it has to be safe for you and future users, and this is proven by an electrical completion certificate "made out and signed by a COMPETENT PERSON in respect of the design construction INSPECTION AND TESTING of the work" (part 4 declaration)
electricians work to the IEE regs, 16th edition soon to be the 17th edition and the technical standards set down in BS 7671. the shortened version in useable everyday landuage is the OSG (on site guide)
everything ive quoted is from page 140 appendix 7 of the osg.
minor works may not be reportable for A socket outlet or A lighting point (singular) but inspection and testing should always be carried out irrespective of the extent of the work undertaken (scope 1st paragragh) and for that you must be COMPETENT
furthermore anything to do with your bonding is ESSENTIAL to the safe and fast working of your protective devices i.e. fuses, circuit breakers, thus an alteration has to be tested and proved, and then recorded
the paperwork is IMPORTANT and competent people dont have a problem with providing it, they know its expected of them

[sense4all]

With regards to the key , even if your daughter gets a police escort to collect the key ( that's one way of getting it on record ) I would change the lock barrel at the very least unless it was a Banham key that he could not have copied easily ... one can never be too careful. I always change the lock if we have had builders as keyholders.