Legal Rights If Building Work Was Done Without A Contract
Hi everyone,
I'm needing a bit of advice.
I had a building company come to my property to demolish my kitchen to the rear of the property, dig new foundations and build it back up so that they could add a bedroom extension on top.
We agreed terms/costs prior to the work starting and I requested a written quote that details what they were going to do for the cash.
We got the job agreed verbally by the company boss and he said that we wouldn't pay more than £3,000 before the job was finished. On completion and satisfaction we'd then pay the rest (£6k).
Work took place for about 8 weeks. About 4 weeks in he asked for £2,000. We paid instantly in cash and got him to give us a receipt (actually he wouldn't do that as he said he'd left his receipt book in the office, so we had to write up a receipt and ask him to sign it to prove we had given the cash).
Work continued and we got our kitchen built according to building regulations and planning. He then asked for another £3,000. We naturally reminded him that he only wanted £3,000 in total and this would push our paid amount up to £5,000 and we were not quite half way through. He hadn't (and still hasn't) connected our cooker up or installed water and drain pipes/a radiator in the kitchen.
After some tense talks we agreed to pay another £2,000.
That's where it all seemed to go wrong. The next day he'd started to pull all of his guys off our job and left us with a lot of work not done.
There were building blocks left at our property, so we locked them away as we feared he'd come and take whatever stuff he could. He did send his guys down when we were out and removed scaffolding and tools, but was apparently upset that we'd taken the blocks. So he took the unopened bags of sand and cement.
We've since learnt that he's threatening to send us an invoice for 'thousands of pounds' in outstanding money.
We did not sign a contract.
We did not get a written quote.
We have two hand written receipts for £2,000 (£4k in total) with his signature on it.
From talking to other people it would seem we are 'in hand' with the job by around £1,000 to £2,000.
Where do we stand legally? Can he bill us for this and get us to pay? I'm not looking to chase him for anything. I'm happy that he's off site as I can now get on sorting it with another (better) contractor.
I'm sorry for the length of this question, but I just want to get the best answers possible.
For anyone thinking 'yep, this guy should have heard the warning bells at the start - yeah, I know that now. I'm just glad I didn't pay as much as he wanted.
Thanks for all your help.