Do I have to pay for work that is not finished?

[Reedsandrush]

Some decorating work was meant to be completed in May. It is still not finished. The manager of the company is incredibly rude, obnoxious and aggressive. (I am a woman living alone, which is perhaps why he thinks he can get away with it.) I am so fed up with dealing with him. Does there come a point where I can say: "The work has not been finished in a timely manner, so I'm not paying. I will pay someone else to complete it." If so, at what point would that be? Obviously he's never going to say: "We will not finish the work." In theory the situation could drag on forever, with him saying they're going to finish the work, but not doing so.

So far I have not paid anything. Do I have a legal obligation to pay for work that has not been completed?

A complicating factor is that the work required scaffolding, which has now been taken down. The company have said they will finish the work from inside, leaning out of the window. I know another decorator, who has worked on my property and is a really nice person, very reliable, and does a great job. When he quoted for the work in the first place, he said that he would not do it without scaffolding. I don't blame him at all; it would obviously be safer with scaffolding. The reason why I went with this other company in the first place, rather than the nice decorator, is that they were able to get a much better deal for the scaffolding. So the thing is that if the good decorator were to finish the work, I would need to pay for scaffolding to be put back up. Because of this, it would not be affordable to pay the other company anything for the work they have done so far.

I'd be grateful to hear from anyone who knows what the law is in this situation.

Problem with building work, decorating or home improvements - Citizens Advice

You don’t happen to live in Surrey do you

You can definitely expect them to finish very soon or pay them their hourly rates due minus any extra expenses incured by their tardiness. I would give them an ultimatum in writing, and send it by recorded, signed for mail.

Speak first to the Citizens Advice, or Ombudesman, and then write something like this: As I am still awaiting the completion of x works, I have taken legal advice. As a customer, I have the statuary right that any work agreed is carried out in a reasonable time and in a reasonable quality. As the work agreed has not been finished yet, I expect that you finish the work by (exact date, say a fortnight) to a good standard. Otherwise, I will excercise my right to instruct a different firm to finish the works and to deduct any extra costs, like the erecting of scaffolding, from the payments that are, in proportion to the works carried out, due to your company. Should the extra costs necessary to finish the work exceed all payments due to your company, I will exercise my statury right to claim full compensation from you. I am looking forward to hearing from you how you would like to resolve this issue by (give date, maybe 1 week from sending letter).
Kind regards, etc.