Breach of contract - next steps?

[MyCatScaresDogs]

Not sure if this is the right place to post but we consider the architectural technician we used to be in breach of contract and are wondering how to proceed.

We used said architectural technician to draw up plans for an extension earlier this year. It was agreed that he would draw up the plans and submit them on our behalf once we approved them - it was under permitted development rather than full planning. He did submit them but we heard nothing further and he has stopped responding to our emails/messages.

The council have now informed us, after I chased them, that they closed our application some months ago after he failed to provide them with additional information that they required. Not only did he not tell us that the council had requested this information, we have heard nothing from him since.

My view is that by failing to act properly as our agent in the application process, he is in breach of contract - we had an agreement, if not a formal contract. Ideally, I would like a partial refund plus costs incurred (we will have to submit again and there is now a charge for this kind of application). He has wasted months of our time.

What would be the odds of this succeeding in small claims court? Or is there another, better avenue to pursue this through?

You need to really have some evidence of the verbal contract. Do you have any emails or letters etc indicate this was the basis of the contract at all?

Falling that, you can just issue proceedings in the SCC and see if they defend it but will be your word against theirs

Arguably it's breach of contract (implied duty that he would act with reasonable skill and care) as well as a tortuous breach for negligence. You could plead both.

I'd write him a letter before claim to ensure compliance with the pre-action protocol for professional negligence - have a look for examples online. Then you can issue proceedings.

Check if you have legal expenses cover under any home or buildings policies and if so use them to deal with this for you.

Thank you - that’s helpful. We do not have a contract but have emails in which he states what he would do for the fee - so my view is that should be sufficient. As he has submitted the application on our behalf, my view is this is evidence of an agreement to act as our agent, especially as the council did not have permission (apparently) to contact us directly when he failed to respond to their enquiries.

We are obviously going to contact him again and set out the situation in writing and give him a reasonable period of time to respond before taking action in the New Year. My concern is that he will just claim he didn’t receive the emails from the council - but we know he responded to the first! He has form for claiming comms issues and “personal problems” (I hate putting that in inverted commas but some discreet digging has revealed that he has done the same at different points with other clients and that he basically ghosts people when he gets bored).

If you have emails stating what he would do and the fee, then that is effectively your contract. Contracts don't have to be written as formal legal documents, they can be verbal but they are difficult to prove.

Write to him. Be clear what you are asking for and see the response and if not happy then write again and be clear you will seek resolution in court. You then have to follow the procedure laid down by the small claims court but you can do it all inline