Unauthorised photography within my home and sharing of the photographs

[Changerofthename1]

I found out that a contractor has taken photographs of the inside of my home that I did not authorise, one of them has got my child in the corner I’m fucking furious about. Obviously it’s gone from one employees phone to another and then it’s been forwarded onto who is thinks is me but actually I’m using an email address that isn’t the one that he would have on my contract if that makes sense so I think he’s on thin ice with that.

This can’t be legal surely ?

I had some building work done a while back. The contractor took copious photos before, during and after. TBF, I don’t have toddlers hanging round the place, but my dog was pretty miffed to be on some of the photos.

OP, you must realise that as you are refusing to give the true reason why they could not commence the job that day, we can pinky assume that you are, indeed, being unreasonable.

There are 2 issues.

1. for some secret reason, a job you had employed someone to carry out on your house has not yet started. Only you and the contractor knows the real reason.
2. your child has inadvertently ended up on a photo said contractor took and then forwarded to his boss, who forwarded it to you by email even though they didn’t have your email address.

These issues are mutually exclusive. We cannot make a fair assessment of the situation because you wont tell us why they could not start the job at that time. Oh, and you’ve changed your story several times as has been evidenced with screen shots by a very astute poster above.

Also. You have no right to an immediate refund. But do go ahead to a solicitor so they can charge you for the same advice.

They don’t have the capacity to carry out the job, it’s bigger than they thought when they quoted for it having been on site and carried out a survey.

They’ve got your deposit, and you want it back.

They think the photo is ‘evidence’ that they couldn’t carry out the job. Is it? i.e. if you end up at court via small claims, will the judge agree with you, that it proves nothing and they are in breach of contract so should return your deposit? Or will the judge agree with them, that the photo is evidence of breach of contract on your part?

The privacy legalities are irrelevant. You’re trying to use it as a ‘gotcha’ to scare them into returning your money. But if what you say is true - that they just aren’t doing it for a spurious reason - then you don’t need to concern yourself with the photo, you need to think about how to prove in small claims that they are scamming you out of your deposit.

So the real question is, does the photo prove their point, or not?

You haven’t told us why they couldn’t start. You just said they were unable to. What where they taking pictures of that meant they couldn’t proceed?

I’ve told you why they couldn’t start, it is entirely there own fault.
You haven’t; you’ve said “they’ve basically misquoted” and they don’t have the capacity to do the job, but you haven’t explained why/how. Did they quote for a small terrace and you live in a palace? Did they quote for bricks and your house is timber-framed? Is there a caged tiger in your front room?

It’s really unusual that a contractor would walk in and within 30 seconds know that they couldn’t do the job and cancel something of the scale you’re talking about. So what was it?

What did they see when the arrived which meant it was a bigger job?
They only got as far as entering the house and walking through the hall to the living room before taking a photo and leaving. That’s a really quick decision to make
Are they trusted workmen who came with recommendations? Did the boss come the first time? Did you have planning consent if it was an extension or was it within permitted development? Do you have a building warrant or plans for the builders to follow?
There’s so much unanswered information.

Did those workmen do the survey or was it done by someone else?

OP are you on drugs/medication ?

This is just so utterly odd. I can only assume the op is not being totally honest.

if you had contractors in to do a Rear extension, and they walked out of the job because they could not do it, showing photographic evidence that they couldn’t, but that evidence was the lounge and not relevant. would you Really have your major issue is That they had s photo of your hallway/living room/kid and used the wrong email address and wanted that as leverage to get your money back ? I mean cmon. Would you say they couldn’t do the job rather than start it? A rear extension is a major deal.

op, it’s very clear they were to work in the lounge. And hallway. That this is a one or two day job. This is not a rear extension. It was clearly flooring or decorating.

what is it your doing on here, going on about your rear extension?

Top tip to anyone trying to figure out WTF is going on here

GIVE UP you will not be told why the workmen couldn't start the job as it's irrelevant apparently

Christ on a cracker it's got worse. Op. Seeing as you've utterly alienated pretty much everyone on here with you strange attitude, you'd be better off paying for some actual legal advice from a qualified professional. Just make sure you tell them the ACTUAL facts and not some vague, spurious nonsense.

@CandyLeBonBon With my strange attitude that I won’t give you all the juicy facts so that you can pick those apart, blame me and call me names, yeah alright then sorry about that.

From the very first post this stank of someone desperate to get out of a contract.

Wonder what the builder’s side of this is. Bet they’re pissed off that they’ve wasted time on the OP.

Was it flooring? Had you had been asked to clear the room(s) and failed to do so?

I think we all very much understand that the OP is £5k out of pocket and is angry, and worried about whether/how she is getting that money back.

But legally - and i'm not a lawyer - whether she gets her deposit back will depend on what was agreed, and the reason why they walked in and within 2 minutes decided they could not go ahead.

The "privacy issue" is completely irrelevant to that.

How did they get the email address??

I think you’ll find the standard question is “are you on glue?”

But in an earlier post OP you said you thought it was an excuse to bump your job until after Christmas. So is the builder not refusing at all but is just not available in the previously agreed timeframe due to the mystery photographed reason?

I'm guessing asbestos / artex in a place they need to encroach into for the purpose of the build. OP disputes they'll need to be in there because she isn't an architect / builder and doesn't understand to what extent old stuff will need ripping out.

I once knew someone who was having an extension over a kitchen which jutted out at the back of the house, and was mighty pissed off when she realised the kitchen underneath would need to be emptied out / unused during the build and various things done to the walls and ceiling even though the new room would be above it.

Agree, this is someone desperately trying to get their money back and trying to find something to weaponise back as leverage.

it’s obviously not a rear extension, you’d not be showing them through, a Rea extension starts with footings etc it’s external at the start and would be a major job, they’d not be popping into your lounge and saying they couldn’t “do “ the job rather than “start” it. The materials for the footings would be on site. From equipment on. They’d have visited many times.

No manager would be sending pics of your lounge as evidence why they couldn’t do a rear extension. It’s mind boggling what’s being posted.

I just don’t get what the op is trying to achieve by pretending she’s six months of work starting. and not just being honest or bowing out.

Of course it's not irrelevant, it's completely relevant

If you generally wanted advice then you would have given enough details for people to pick those apart consider those and give impartial advice. You were clearly just wanting people to agree with you, which they don't. Frankly its not surprising the builders left your house so quickly, you sound absolutely crackers.

Well, with OP's charm and communication skills, I'm sure this will be resolved calmly and to everyone's satisfaction.

Guarantee it wasn’t builders, she was having a quick job like flooring or decorating done, one or two days work likely, didn’t clear the rooms so they couldn’t do it, and now they have no slots to do it till the new year , the evidence they couldn’t do it is the photo of the rooms. And instead of taking responsibility she’s reacted with utter fury.