Logeswaran Shanmuganthan, who runs Best Co Express at Bilston in the West Midlands, says that he paid a builder £70,000 for building work that, over a year later, remains incomplete. This includes loose floor tiles coming off within a month. The roof and guttering have not been completed nor has the electrical work (with exposed wires which are dangerous).
“I need some advice on what to do because it has been more than a year that he has been telling me that he will come to finish the work but he always gives me an excuse and never came, to the point now where he is not even answering the phone. Is there anything I can do legally to resolve the problem?”
My initial thought was to recommend that Loges should report the company, VYR Builders in Ilford, Essex, to Trading Standards as obviously the work was not up to standard. And because, quite frankly in this situation, a TSO has more clout than I do. And although Loges had no written contract, or indeed anything in writing, he did have bank account proof of how much he had forked over.
Meanwhile I wrote to the builder, Ramesh Thiraviyanathan, offering him the right to reply but I didn’t get a response.
Loges reported back that the Trading Standards website pointed him at Citizens Advice which advised him to write a letter to the builder giving him a timeframe to complete the work and send it recorded delivery. If the builder ignores it then Citizens Advice said they would report it to Trading Standards.
I also advised Loges that he could take the company to small claims court online which has set a limit of £10,000 – the amount that Loges reckons represents the work outstanding.
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