Legal Questions and Answers by
Jonathan Stones of John Barkers
Question :-
In the summer of 1999 I had my yard concreted by a local building firm. I was left with pools of water on the yard each time we had any rain and they didn’t put a drain under the downpipe.
For two year I complained regularly to the owner of the firm. Each time I phoned he promised to come and do something about it. It was only after I contacted the trading standards office that he came to put in some gullies to take the water away.
After they left I found they had still not put a drain under the downfall pipe. When I phoned he said it wasn’t necessary as the water would run down the yard. When I told him this was not good enough and would contact trading standards again he was quite nasty and said he did not intend to do any more.
The trading standards officers arranged to meet him at my home and he promised to put a soak-away under the concrete within the next two weeks. More than a month later I am still waiting.
Can you advise me what to do next? I cannot afford any legal fees and at 81 years of age I cannot cope any longer with all the upset.
Answer :-
I’m sorry to hear about the trouble you have been experiencing in this matter. The firm certainly seems to have been very uncooperative but you have stuck to your guns, so well done for that.
As the trading standards people are already on the case, the most cost-effective course of action would be to go back to them and advise them that the builder has not honored his promise. If trading standards pressure does not produce action – and frankly I would be astonished if, in this case, it did not – then we have to look at
putting pressure on him in other ways.
One way forward would be to get another builder to give you a written quotation for the work that is required to put the job right. Such a quotation will be free.
You then send a copy of the quotation to the original builder and warn him that unless he carries out the remedial work within fourteen days you will instruct the new firm to carry it out – and will sue him for the cost. If you really wish to concentrate his mind, you could get a solicitor to write the letter accompanying the quotation. The cost of the letter would be around ten pounds.
If that does not produce action, you have the option of instructing the second
builder to carry out the work and taking action in the Small Claims Court. The cost of the case would be a one-off fee of around £80 but you would have to fund the second firm’s work until you can recover the money from the first builder.
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