From contracts to credentials, these are the steps to consider before letting builders start renovation work on your home
EVERY Saturday, The Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.
Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Amanda Cable will give you the best advice for buying your dream home, Maddy Tooke rounds up the best coupons to save you money and Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes.
Jane Hamilton, property expert
A QUARTER of homeowners have been stung by rogue tradesmen, a report by website Rated People found.
Scams include failing to complete work or builders running off with cash.
So if you’re planning renovation work, how can you protect yourself?
Amanda Hamilton, of the National Association of Licensed Paralegals, explains steps you can take.
BEFORE YOU START: Check the credentials of a tradesperson or service provider before agreeing a contract. Have they done work for someone you know? Are they happy to recommend them? Check sites like Checkatrade.com, RatedPeople or TrustMark. Meet them before you agree any work. Explain what you expect them to deliver, and have it agreed before embarking on a contract.
IF THINGS GO WRONG: Legally you are covered by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 so ask them to resolve the issues to avoid taking further action. The act says tradespeople must redo the service that falls short at no extra cost within a reasonable time. If re-doing the service is impossible, you can claim a reduction in the price up to 100 per cent.
GET WRITING. If the tradesperson ignores you, write a letter stating what is wrong with their work and why you believe it should be done again.
IF IT GOES TO COURT: If the trader doesn’t reply, you may need to take legal action. For works up to £10,000, you can opt for mediation. The aim is to reach an agreement which a trained, independent third party will facilitate. For claims over £10,000 you will need to go to court.
Buy of the week
JOIN the Cheshire set. This home in Winnington, near Northwich, may look like a cosy cottage on the outside, but it’s far bigger inside with three bedrooms and a huge kitchen diner.
It’s on for offers around £185,000 at .
Been flooded out?
BEEN flooded out? Property expert Keith Pearlman, of law firm DMH Stallard, has advice on making an insurance claim.
He says: “Contact insurers immediately to check if, in the most serious incidents, you can be rehoused and that furniture and belongings are covered.
“You may want to instruct private loss assessors to negotiate with the insurer’s loss adjuster on your behalf.
“Take photos of all damage, collate evidence of costs for individual items and keep detailed records of ongoing expenditure.
“Liaise with your mortgage lender, but don’t stop paying the mortgage without their agreement. And keep a diary of events.”
Deal of the week
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Judge Rinder
Q) BOOKED a holiday through a discount website. But I soon discovered that the hotel I had booked wasn’t suitable for my needs (I’m disabled and my mum’s elderly) and asked for a refund.
The firm said it couldn’t refund the money but would put it on credit on my account to use another time.
I went to book another trip the other day – two years after the credit was put there and, in my account, it said it had expired. When I spoke to customer services I was told that it expired after one year.
I wasn’t notified of this or that it was due to expire. Is this legal? What can I do?
JANE, Carlisle
A) I’m afraid that my answer isn’t likely to be a happy one. Most credit notes expire after 12 months from the date when they are issued.
I suspect that when the travel company issued you with a credit note it either attached the terms and conditions of the note making clear that it needed to be spent within 12 months, or the company’s website had a section on refunds explaining all this.
You need to check this at once. If the firm said nothing or published nothing at all about when the credit note would expire, you will have a strong legal case for a refund and should write to them at once making this clear.
If they did explain this to you (and you missed it in the small print), there is little that you can do.
Your remedy here might not be a legal one. I would appeal to the company’s decency. Write to the managing director explaining that you made a genuine mistake and detail your personal circumstances.
Often a good and kindly written letter will achieve a lot more than a legal threat.
Doggy dilemma
Q) OUR cat was attacked and killed by a dog on our street.
The police were called but more or less said nothing can be done. Is this true, and if it is would it be possible to pursue a private prosecution against the dog’s owners instead? ELLEN, Bristol
A) I don’t know the circumstances of the attack but, if the dog was out of control and off its lead, then the owners could be prosecuted.
You should write to the police (who have a complaints process) asking them to review their decision not to pass this on to the Crown Prosecution Service.
I would advise against pursuing a private prosecution. I understand how angry you are but the process would be emotionally arduous and potentially costly.
You have another remedy which is to sue the dog owners for damages in the small claims court.
They would be liable for any vet costs and, possibly, for the distress they have caused you.
This would be a way of holding the owner of the dog to account and might make them more careful.
Q) THE day my daughter moved into a rented room, the radiator came detached from the wall after she lightly leaned against it while looking out of the window.
The letting agent arranged for a workman to come round and he “mended” it with glue, a very shoddy job which I doubt will last long.
The agent has told her that if he employs someone to remove the radiator and refit it properly, it will incur cost to her that will be taken from her deposit at the end of the tenancy.
As the radiator was clearly not fitted correctly in the first place, can this be true?
JULIE, Leeds
A) No. The letting agent is trying it on. When your daughter rented this room it came with all the fixtures and fittings. It is the landlord’s obligation (or his agent) to maintain the radiator and to have ensured that it was fitted correctly in the first place.
This is not a case where your daughter has negligently damaged the radiator (which would be her problem), it is a straightforward breach of contract on the part of the landlord and the agent.
Your daughter needs to write to the letting agent providing photos of the workman’s shoddy repair job. Make clear that the radiator is not only unsafe but it is a fixture which was included in the contract.
If the letting agent refuses to sort it out within a reasonable period (two weeks), your daughter should alert the agent that she will be hiring somebody competent to repair the radiator and then sending the agent the bill.
Contact
- Judge Rinder regrets he cannot answer questions personally. Answers intended as general guidance. They do not constitute legal advice and are not a substitute for obtaining independent legal advice.
- Got a question for Judge Rinder? Email [email protected]
Mel Hunter, Reader's champion
Q) MY husband and I travelled to Bulgaria on holiday in June 2017, but we had an eight-hour delay on our return flight. Since then, I have been trying to get a refund from Air Bulgaria.
We exchanged numerous emails in which the company offered me free flights or a refund. I accepted the latter. In November 2017, it requested my bank details. I sent them but heard nothing more.
I contacted Flight Reclaim, a flight refund company, but that had no luck either.
It passed the case to the Civil Aviation Authority, but I have heard nothing from Flight Reclaim and got no response to my emails.
SHARON, County Down
A) I contacted Air Bulgaria and was told that the money had been transferred to Flight Reclaim, the refund company you had approached but heard nothing from. That was my next stop.
While, initially, Flight Reclaim couldn’t find any record of receiving the money, I dug a bit more and it seems the refund only went over to the claims company shortly after I contacted the airline, which I doubt was a coincidence.
Flight Reclaim duly confirmed it had received the £682 you were owed and, after taking its 20 per cent cut (£136), you finally got your money.
Not worth it
Q) I PAID for next-day delivery for about £160- worth of items from Lancome, all of which were gifts for a birthday.
The order showed as “signed for by Reema” on the delivery company’s tracking, but I wasn’t home and none of my neighbours signed for it.
I immediately emailed Lancome, which asked me to contact the delivery company, but I insisted Lancome look into it.
Since then, I have had a series of unhelpful responses. REEMA, London
A) You had ordered the gift of beauty, but instead end up in the middle of a right dog’s dinner.
You were right: If there is a problem with delivery, it is up to the firm you bought from to sort it out rather than the courier.
I contacted Lancome, part of the L’Oreal group, and I managed to get it to refund you in full.
Q) I SWITCHED away from Together Energy, and was told I would have a final bill within six weeks. Four months later, after numerous emails and phone calls, I am still waiting.
I know I am in credit but keep being fobbed off. One of the final emails asked me to “click here to view your final bill”. When I clicked it said my account was in debit. I am almost 84 and have never been in debt so was upset.
When I complained, I received an apology and was told Together Energy is having problems with its refund system and to just put all my bank details in an email to obtain a refund. I am wary about doing this.
DOEREEN, Edinburgh
MOST READ IN MONEY
A) You were led a merry dance by Together. Fortunately it didn’t take long to find out that the mistake was due entirely to an error by Together.
A spokesperson apologised and told me the problem had been due to “her flat number being incorrectly recorded in one part of our system but correctly on another. This meant her bill wasn’t being properly generated and was showing up falsely as a debit balance.”
Your outstanding credit on the account was duly refunded to you.
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