Small Claims - Scammer builder!

[Modernfamily2011]

Am desperate for some advice please… I am at my wits end with small claims and am now thinking I might never get my money back 😫
Long story short, we paid a builder £1500 deposit back in Sept 23 to do some work. When the date to start came, he didn’t turn up, didn’t even call, said his tools had been stolen! I genuinely felt sorry for him but as time went on, he continued to come up with multiple excuses as to why he couldn’t do the job
We then asked for our money back and suddenly he gave us a date to start, he turned up and ripped out our bathroom and left, he left all the rubbish outside our home!
2 weeks went by, he came back (after calling me asking for more money) he promised he would finish the job but needed more cash, stupidly we gave it to him as I have never met such a good liar before
of course, we never saw him again and ended up paying for a skip for all the rubbish
I went to small claims last year, they sent him a letter and he agreed he owed us the money and would pay in installments. He didn’t even bother to make the first payment, so we’ve now paid for bailiffs and it has taken months to get to this point. The bailffs have sent a letter but might not turn up for another 8 weeks…. My question is, what happens if they can’t recover the money? The property isn’t his so i’m not sure how much power the bailiffs have… is there another way? Can it go to the high court?
he’s admitted he owes us the money but after 18 months of this, I am so fed up and just want our money back
Does anyone have experience like this who might be able to offer advice?
thanks

I'm sorry you're going through this. Have you spoken to Citizens' Advice? They can help in terms of getting the builder reported to Trading Standards.

I lost a very large sum (a life-changing amount) to a fraudulent builder and TS investigated, which led to an undertaking to set up a repayment plan and him being unable to be a director of a firm for a number of years. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Unfortunately, it's very hard to get any redress under these circumstances, and there is always the risk of legal fees eating up any available funds, or your builder could declare himself bankrupt. My approach has been to do all I can, but then try to move on and put it to the back of my mind.

I learnt it's almost impossible to get money from people who don't want to pay and don't care about the consequences.

Similar to you I spent years chasing a sole trader for £££s, got a CCJ but never saw a penny.

Is he still trading?

@AlphaApple @ClematisBlue49 - he isn’t ‘trading’ anymore as far as i’m aware, he’s had a CCJ issued and the bailiffs will go to the address provided but i’m genuinely thinking we might never see that money again.. despite him admitting it
he also claimed he was homeless which is a complete lie as he was on holiday last year!
How can someone do this and just get away with it?
i’m so sorry to hear about your experiences… it’s so hard to accept it as I want him to pay it back…
It feels like the small claims court don’t actually have any power to do anything!

Hi OP, I've had a similar issue with a roofer. I called Citizens' Advice and spoke to a lawyer in the family. The latter used the phrase "throwing good money after bad" which I have taken on board. I haven't even gone down the small claims route as I'm sure that I won't get anything back and I'll be further out of pocket. I'm extremely annoyed about it but having to draw a line under the experience.