Please help. I've been conned by my builder. Lots of money paid up front. What should I do?

[Helpmeplease2019]

I've just heard today that my builder is a con-artist who isn't coming back to finish my half-built extension. We've paid him lots of money up front . What can I do to try to get my money back? I can't afford legal advice. I don't have the money to finish the extension.

Please be gentle, I know I've made mistakes

(name changed)

We are in the process of getting quotes from builders for an extension and live in your area! Please let me know the name so i can avoid!

It sounds like it fits the criteria for a criminal offence called "advance fee fraud". You should report him to turn police. It will get punted over to Action Fraud, and take ages, but if you coordinate with the other victims and all report, then they should investigate. That likely won't help you get your money back though.

Pleaase go to action fraud with the other victims. You might not get any money back, but he could end up in prison and that would feel like a little justice.

Small Claims Court is £10,000 maximum.

wowfudge thank you so much. I will pm you his info.

I will phone the police tomorrow and Action Fraud. HMRC are on the list for later. I absolutely will be investing my time in warning others about him.

I got him taken off mybuilder today. He had already ripped off loads of people when we hired him and only had one negative review. He owes a dozen people 10s of 1,000s of pounds each and he was still on there this morning FFS.

monkeyface I feel your pain. Did you recover anything? Did you sue him? It looks like our guy has had SIX previous companies . How can people like this be allowed to continue.

lists it’s just unbelievable! I have an address to write to!! What do I say? I just feel sick about it. I will have to write something.

torsz Are you going to try to enforce the CCJ or do you know there are no assets (and if so, how?)

I have been watching and hoping this guy gets his comeuppance! Can you not name him here? I was hoping for some widespread scowling at him and his low behaviour, crimes.

The names of the companies found under his name would be helpful?

Total scum

What a nightmare OP! You'd have hoped if he'd been previously reported to TS they'd have shut him down! (Not sure if they have the power to do that?) or at least reported him to the police?

I would definitely contact the website you found him on and warn them too to not allow his profile on the site.

Argh I'm angry for you!! Hope something comes of it in the end, even if it is just a conviction.

Hi OP. I can't work out what the guy who has allegedly bought his business is doing. He seems to do this kind of thing regularly so either he is a creditor who steps in to try to take the assets of companies to cover what he's owed or he thinks there's a business he can run there. Contact him and see what he has to say.

This link to gov.uk pages may be useful. Read sections 4 and 5. These unscrupulous people aren't running phoenix companies in the true sense, but they are repeatedly hiding behind the corporate veil to limit their liabilities. Report them. But report them for breach of their duties as directors. They should be disqualified imo.

One thing these people have in common is that they set up a company, fail to meet their statutory filing duties - no accounts ever filed, no compliance statement - then the company gets compulsorily dissolved and they never face the music. Where some of the companies have had the dissolution process halted due to the Registrar receiving an objection, you can bet that is because someone is trying to recover their money. A dissolved company ceases to exist and you can't take recovery action against the director. If you stop the dissolution process you can.

What are the chances of getting your money back? The answer is: slim to none, unfortunately. As I posted upthread, if you've paid the person personally an amount over £750, then you could try issuing a stat demand. They have, I think, 15 days to pay and you can then start winding up proceedings against a company or initiate bankruptcy proceedings against an individual if they don't pay you the amount claimed. Where your loss is thousands of pounds, it is maybe worth spending a few hundred on this, but contact a solicitor specialising in insolvency/recovery.

You might ask what's the point of this if you don't get your money back? The answer is you make their life very difficult. They had no qualms about taking your money, so get them made bankrupt.

How do you prevent getting ripped off by a dodgy builder happening to you?

Firstly - a personal recommendation and sight of their work is worth 100 reviews on a tradesperson finding website which is basically paid advertising. Ask yourself why this person is advertising for work regularly and on different platforms. The good ones are booked up well in advance and don't need to advertise.

If they have a limited company, fgs look up that company on the Companies House beta service. It is completely free. If the company is relatively new and has overdue filings, tread very carefully. Look at the people related to that company. Look at how many past directorships of dissolved companies they have. Did those companies not file accounts or compliance statements (formerly called annual returns)? If there's a pattern there, avoid. Yes, it's a pain trying to find a decent tradesperson who can do your job roughly when you want it doing, but it's a lot more painful losing your savings or paying off a loan which you have nothing to show for.

If they claim to be a member of a trade body, check with that body that they are on their register. Report them if they are not.

Anyone who is using their limited company name to get your business should have a company bank account. It's one of the things the first board meeting of the company decides. Do not pay into that person's personal bank account. At the very least they are possibly on the fiddle re: tax. At worst, they just want your money to fund their holiday, their gambling addiction, etc. A bona fide company director will have no issue with you paying the company. If at all possible, pay at least some of the money by credit card as it affords you some protection. Writing a cheque which they have to pay in is better than making a bank transfer because they have to play a part and it shows their intention.

If you ask questions and don't like the answers or you smell a rat, trust your instincts.

Quick question - how do you know if you paid into a personal or company bank account? I have the account details but am not sure if I can find out easily...

Also check for others with similar name and date of birth. The reason I didn't initially spot earlier companies was because he used his middle name but dropped it for more recent registration so shows up as different person on companies house. Change of address can have same result

The OP stated she paid into her Rogue Trader's personal account. It used to be that it didn't matter what name you put on for an online or banking app payment because the banking systems only checked the account number and sort code. This changed recently.

I would 1. ask, 'the name on the account is the company name, yes?' and see what they say. 2. With the sort code you can find out what bank it is. Check with the bank before you make a payment. They won't tell you what name the account is in but they should confirm if it is in the company name.

That's a really good point listsandbudgets. Ask yourself why someone doesn't consistently use the same name format over time. Addresses are less useful because a company director can withhold their personal address from the public register, although they have to provide it to Companies House. They still have to provide a service address. Where I also have an issue is where one of these RTs is using an accountant's address as their registered office. The accountant involved should be asking questions about whether what is going on is ethical.

@Torsz - your RT is a serial company dissolver although someone has objected to one of the dissolutions. Also, if you search for him, someone with the full version of his first name who was living at an address half a mile away has an unpleasant criminal conviction. Coincidence or the same person? He's the right age.

These people should be disqualified from being company directors imo.

If you paid into his personal account then arguably any claim is against him not his company.

If you do think he has / will have assets in the future then you could be sneaky and file two small claims for £10k each, detailing different parts of the work agreed on each. The likelihood is he won't contest either and then you seek a judgement in each. Once you have those you don't have to act on them immediately but you have them in reserve to demand payment in various ways if / when it seems possible you could get something from him. There are various ways that you could enforce the judgement in the future, through eg putting a charge on any property he owns in the future, instructing debt collectors or bailiffs, etc.

I've stated upthread that if money has been paid to a RT personally, you should pursue them personally. The problem with a small claim is that it takes time to pursue payment, then to obtain a ccj for non-payment, etc. When there is little chance of getting the money back, why not go straight for a stat demand and winding up or bankruptcy? We did this at work with a thief who didn't pay back money taken fraudulently from the company. We knew the person had no assets - house in spouse's name. There were criminal proceedings too, as a result of which we discovered a previous conviction and that the person had defrauded a charity and another company. The charity had tried to pursue via Action Fraud. We went to the police and secured a conviction via the courts and got the person made bankrupt.

A company director who takes direct payment for work ostensibly being carried out by the company doesn't fulfil their statutory duty to act in the best interests of the company either. They really shouldn't be company directors.

Thanks @wowfudge - it's actually me that objected to the dissolution whilst we were going through small claims but it feels like a waste of money so far as he doesn't care about that company anymore - like you said in your above post! Very interesting about the criminal conviction - we were wondering if it's possible to do anything through companies house as he seems to have broken a lot of rules eg when dissolving the company he claimed he hadn't traded in 3 months and didn't notify us of the dissolution, whereas he was actually halfway through our extension and pretended to be sick then ignored us from then on.
In answer to a previous question (sorry can't recall the poster), I'm not sure what we're going to do next as we can't afford to throw more good money after bad, but I also can't rest knowing he's getting away with it and will keep doing it over and over again.
I'm not sure if we paid into his company or personal account - presumably the former??

Check the account details you made payment to, Google the sort code to find out which bank held the account and ask in a branch (if possible) whether the account is in the company name?

I would write, send it signed for, to everyone you can think of. Try the local MP too. Provide a timeline, keep emotion out of it, but describe the effect this has had on you. Unfortunately, I suspect this kind of thing happens more frequently than you might think and unless huge sums of money are involved or someone has the financial means/clout to take decisive action (like the company I work for) there is neither the will nor the manpower available to deal with it.

It looks like our guy has had SIX previous companies. How can people like this be allowed to continue

I've only just seen your thread, but sadly it's because they know exactly how to work the system. Putting the ownership of the company overseas will be just one more ruse to avoid responsibility, and the name which has just been removed will quickly be followed by another

You've got some excellent advice on here, but I guess you're also learning - as I learned to my cost - that the "reviews" on these find-a-tradesman sites are almost certainly written by friends and family. I know it doesn't help for now, but in future you might want to avoid all such sites and go only by recommendation - and then only after checking out everything you can

Could you mention the current people involved on here, if only so others can avoid them?

I would definitely contact the police and ask for fraud officer and trading standards. This guy is a serial fraudster. If he has assets and if they convict him, you might get your money back or some of it from the police right to seize assets that are the proceeds of crime. I would also contact your mp. Someone needs to stop these criminals. Good luck

Puzzledandpissedoff much as I believe the pps who have posted their awful experiences, I don't think naming and shaming here is the right thing to do. Apart from anything else it can get back to them and they may take even more evasive action. If anyone turned out to just harbour a grudge it's potentially libelous.

That's actually a very fair point, wowfudge - my mistake

It's just so worrying, though, to think that all too soon this wretch will be back swindling yet another unsuspecting homeowner. I don't have the in depth legal experience to know what can be done to stop this kind of thing, but surely there must be something?

The best thing to do is get recommendations, do your research and get references. And don't contract the services of someone there is the merest sniff of something off about.

Unfortunately these RTs are conmen who rely on most unsuspecting people being grateful to find someone for their project and taking them at their word. They may well be very capable and good at building. When they actually do what they are paid for. Because building work can be very costly, it is natural to try to get a good deal on price and people get drawn in then exploited.