Paying the painter still??

[Lookatmeeee]

Just wanted some advice, we were due to get our lounge painted next week, sorted with decorator all booked in for a few weeks. Today I got notice that my job is at risk of redundancy, with this in mind I can't really afford to spend £500 on getting the house decorated.

I emailed the painter who said how sorry he is but as due go do it next week we have to pay whether it's done or not. Is this right, I can't really afford it if going to be jobless, we have no written contract but all arrangements made on email, really worried.

I understand it's short notice for him, what do we do?

I have no idea of the legalities of this but I would suggest that without having signed a contract or having been supplied terms and conditions of this it would seem unlikely that they can charge you with a weeks notice. I would maybe offer them to buy any paint or materials they have purchased at the price they paid if they supply receipts to ensure they were not out of pocket but a good decorator should be able to pull jobs forward to have other work lined up to take your place easily enough.

Thanks, I was buying the paint so he won't be out of pocket for materials etc.

Was he supplying materials?

cross post in that case I wouldn't pay him. It sucks for him but is part and parcel of being self employed. A good decorator should be able to fill his week easily at short notice

Then in that case I would ask him to show where in the email he had notified me of this term and condition. If he has not told you then surely he cannot charge you as you were unaware. See if you can agree a smaller charge if you can afford it if not I would simply say that as no works has taken place and you have given ample notice you won't be paying anything.

If he was not supplying materials and there is no contract you do not have to pay him anything !

Ok, thanks everyone, will go back and say not paying as given notice and no contract

Don't pay him. But I wouldn't use him when the time comes round for you to finally get it done

Hmm I might retract my advise a little having looked at citizens advice. Accepting a quote and fixing a start date even verbally can count as a contract so I suppose if he wanted to he could take you to small claims court.
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/getting-home-improvements-done/cancelling-building-or-decorating-work/

Just re-read your bit about all arrangements being made via email I would perhaps look more into you obligations before replying.

Just asked DP who is a painter and decorator.

He said he can sort of see where the guy is coming from as he may have turned down other work, although expecting the full amount is unreasonable.

However he said he wouldn't do it. As pp said it's one of the downsides of being self-employed. He also made the point that in any event it would be crazy to pay the £500 as you might as well get him to do it if you were going to pay.

Obviously if you had agreed a contract with cancellation terms in it then that would be another matter.

You probably do owe him if you have exchanged emails, agreed quotes and dates etc. But.... Any half decent decorator would have a list of clients waiting that he would be able to ring up and offer them the slot instead, so that he wouldn’t be out of work.

I would say that if he cannot fill the slot with someone else then you will go ahead rather than him trying to take you to small claims etc and then you have paid and not had the room decorated. If you are only at risk of redundancy then there will be however many months of consultation etc before you are made redundant (or not).

for the crap day. Have been through about 6 rounds of redundancies the last 4 years. Somehow I have survived each time, but it is still shit.

I wonder if it works the other way around, as my Mil was let down by her decorator who was booked 6 weeks in advance and the night before he was due to start he rang to say he could no longer do the job, said something had come up so Mil had to find someone else.

A contract does not have to be in writing. It can be oral.

If you accepted the quote and agreed a start date it is more likely that not that a Court would find you have an enforceable contract.

He could sue you for breach of that contract. His damages would be the financial loss to him. He has a duty to mitigate that loss as best he can (ie by finding other work) but with only a week to go a Court would be unlikely to think it unreasonable if he cannot do so (provided he can show that he has tried).

So....in theory it seems from what you have said that he would be more likely than not to succeed if he tried to sue. Obviously he may not want to go to the bother of doing that. But that is the risk you run.

I wouldn't be paying him

I would say you do owe him the money. Agreeing to the quote and arranging the day is a contract. Not having a cancellation agreement isn’t in your favour.

Whether the painter will go forward with getting the money from you is another story.

Lady mcbeth, I'm laughing at oral contract, because I'm childish possibly