Refusing to pay tradesmen

That's incredible that he doesn't charge a deposit. Kitchen fitter charged us around 70% upfront payment then we settled the rest on completion of work. This was all in writing before work started though.

Don't try to remove work! It counts as criminal damage.

My dad is a music teacher and I've helped him a couple of times with ones who don't pay.

There's a template you can download online for threatening court action. Very reliable as they usually panic after they've received that to their address!

Bailiffs - we've had to use them once. It was costly but it was a family who'd racked up thousands of pounds of bills and not paid (he also sourced instruments and tunes pianos etc)

Just keep phoning them. Time consuming but if you're relentless enough they will just give in. Even asking if they can do installments here and there.

There are other more extreme things you can do 😂 but the above tend to work quite well

OP your husband needs a signed engagement document before undertaking any work. If there is a contract in place, stage payments, and photo evidence of completion, he has to sue the homeowner. A strongly worded letter from a solicitor (we used a standard one) can often do the job. If you show real intent, plus you’ve got all the evidence, dated, which you present, most people buckle. Those that don’t, you take action.

Surely there is room for trade bodies to offer legal protection to trades people?

That's disgusting. I've always paid after but only because that's what they agree to but I would have paid half first if they asked. How dare he basically steal your partners services

Actually you would be surprised how many tradesmen go through the courts to get their money!!! My husband owns a company who does that legal work and I know there are builder, plumbers, sparkies, joiners, vehicle hires, plant hires! every type of company does! I know this because I process the documents!!!!

This. It'll be a long time coming but you'll get the money eventually.

If the person who owes the money has any assets like a car, CCJ can be passed to bailiffs for enforcement. If he works, a percentage of his pay can be deducted each month automatically (assuming he's not self employed).

Don't let this go, send the letter then take him to court.

Is there any way you could report him to the police as I think this sounds like fraud?

Small claims isn’t time consuming. I’ve done it a few times as I work for a company of tradesman and this shit does happen. Just send a couple of warning letters attached to emails first and this is all you really need to upload as evidence that you’ve tried to get payment from him. Usually when they get the first letter from the court, they pay up. Plus they have to pay the fee also. Don’t let him get away with it.

Once you've got a!County ourt judgement put a charge on the property. Then issue a demand noticewhich will allow you to issue proceedings for bankruptcy. It worked for us, what was funny was the debtor had no idea we had charges on the property and his solicitor had to hand the proceeds over. I can still remember taking the call and my solicitor laughing at the other solicitors chagrin that we'd been sneaky. I'd paid an estate agent to check properties for sale so we knew I advance when they were up. I wish I'd gone to the auction now!. He partially mortgaged the other so every month when he pays that he knows it's because of us.

The guy that lost his business etc doesn't want the hassle of people giving him abuse which would happen unfortunately

@SENlife Name and shame on local media? Why not tell the people who are supporting the cafe?

And his professional insurance should cover his legal costs to pursue this.

Is the customer willing to pay in installments? I once had a customer who got me to fit a boiler and said he had no money. I said I was prepared to wait and he paid by cheque over the following 3 months.

You are right about small claims. There was a woman in my area who was a professional non payer. She was buying and selling houses, getting lots of trades in and never paid a penny. My ex colleague took her to small claims and she had a huge list of things that weren't completed. One was where he had taken the wooden floor up, she complained there was gaps 🤷 he decided that the extra work would take weeks to complete and had to write the money off.

Much better to deal directly with the customer.

Are you saying he's had nothing in advance? I'm sorry, that's hugely naive. Completely standard for a big project to pay maybe 20% upfront, then the rest in 20% instalments during the job and just leave the last 20% for the end and after snagging.

Good call I forgot about those.

ETA; this was in regards to lien process in the US.

Lessons were learned in our family with this. Deposits now taken, midway through work at least half payment has to be made then then rest on the day work is finished before leaving the house. It's all explained before work is started and written out in contract.

I’ve noticed more and more that companies want paying in advance. Whether it’s work done in the house, logs delivered, boiler serviced etc. sadly that is the way to go now. Deposit in advance and final payment before the job is finished.

Does your husband know where the client works? You husband needs to see a solicitor about lodging a wage arrestment on the client. This will then be taken regularly from the clients wages before he gets them. His employer has to do this by law if he is served with the documents. All legal costs for the this also have to be paid by the client and are automatically added onto the debt so your husband does not lose any money. It might take time but it will eventually be paid off. Incidentally, what job did your husband do for the client?

I think it would definitely be his problem!