Workman not finishing work that's been paid for

[Lovelilies]

I had my house renovated last year, and one man was in charge. He had his own company and they did all the plastering, electrics, plumbing, joinery.

I ran out of money right at the end to buy tiles for the kitchen, the plan was he'd come back and do the tiling and a bit more boxing in of pipes once I'd got them.

I got all the stuff in November. Since then, he has stopped working for himself and his excuse why he can't come and finish the work is, he hasn't the time now he works for someone else.

He's ignoring my calls and texts. I don't know what to do! I've already paid for the tiling labour and the finishing off of the joinery stuff so I don't really want to/ can't afford to pay someone else to do it.

Any tips?

Ask him to refund you for that work so you can pay someone else?

I've tried that but he won't. Says he'll come and do it, but hasn't!

Send him a letter giving him a reasonable time to either complete the work or refund your money and informing him that you will take legal action if he does not do one or the other. You can then take him to the small claims court to get your money back if he does not comply.

Thank you.
What would you say is a reasonable time? A month?
Also, how to decide on the amount of money. A quote from someone else? In writing?

A month certainly sounds reasonable.

In terms of the money, the question is what it would cost to get someone else to finish the work so yes, quotes from other suppliers is the way to go. It would be worth getting two or three quotes in writing. You may need them as evidence to support your claim if it goes to court.

TBH you have messed him around. You contracted him for some work but then couldn't pay for the materials.

He would have paid tax on that income and would have to go through the admin of reclaiming that in order to refund you. If he's no longer self employed or running a company that might be pretty difficult.

Unless there's a massive back story I think you should just save up to pay a new contractor.

Disagree. He has been paid for the work. He must either carry out the work or refund the payment.

I completely accept that my opinion isn't the legal position but I don't think it is fair to ask for a full refund as you didn't fulfil your end of the contract.

Do you have anything written down?

I would certainly ask for a refund for the work that wasn't done but I would be prepared to compromise a little if I were the OP on the basis that I had messed him around. I probably wouldn't write it off completely unless the sum of money involved was small but I would certainly consider accepting less than the full price of getting the work done. Of course, the best outcome is if he will do the work. That will only cost him some time and leaves everyone happy.