roofing quote deposit.

[james19000]

Hi a couple of years back my partner and I who own a top floor maisonette of a two story semi detached building and our ground floor neighbours attempted to have the roof renewed.

We obtained 3 quotes and our neighbours chose the cheapest company.

to cut a long story short, our neighbours paid their share of the deposit (half the costs) to the roofer.

We never agreed with our neighbours that we would use the cheapest builder but we were communicating with the roofing company and making enquiries.

Our neighbours who at the time were out of the country but dealing with directly with the cheapest roofer over the internet, arranged a date etc for the roofer to start, initially putting up the scaffolding.

Simultaneously we had arranged with the cheapest roofer to see previous examples of work done. We arranged the viewings on the weekend before the roofing company was supposed to start work.

Whilst doing the viewings, we discussed with the roofer about insulation and it appeared that the roofing company had misquoted for the insulation, assuming we wanted the insulation on the joists as oppose to between the rafters which we specifically requested. We made it known to the roofer at the time that we needed a revised estimate.

On the day the cheapest roofer/ scaffolding team were supposed to start, no one turned up to do the work.

At this point in the discussions, my partner and I decided not to use the roofer, having never made any agreement or declaration to use the cheapest builder with our neighbour and accordingly advised our neighbour and advised them to get their money back.

Our neighbours were pretty ****ed having paid their deposit but we never told them to do so, so kind of not our fault. They told us at that time the roofing company would be able to refund their deposit.

Cut to a year later....

the cheapest building company in question declared bankruptcy and now our neighbours are saying they cant get their deposit back.

Our neighbours are now wanting to take us to small claims court to repay their lost deposit, saying that because we didn't pay our share of the deposit, the roofing company cancelled the job and having spent the money on materials etc, were not in a position to return the money.

Don't know what to do now. so any advise would be appreaciated...

thanks..

 

[FiremanT]

Frankly, I suggest you try something like this:
http://www.thelawforum.co.uk/

Here, you will get a random selection of opinions, most of them half baked.

Stand by

 

[Bosswhite]

Did you and your neighbour sign any agreement regarding the quote from the roofer about acceptance of the work, and when it would be carried out etc.

 

[james19000]

we didn't have any written agreement/ email/ other...
though our neighbour is claiming they agreed with my partner over a phone conversation, which my partner says there was a conversation but not of any agreement. it was another subject entirely.

 

[Bosswhite]

But you knew the day when the Scaffolder/Roofer was going to start ! Why didnt you stop them prior to that day, and say there was no written agreement that they should carry out the work ?

Quote= " On the day the cheapest roofer/scaffolding team were supposed to start, no one turned up to do the work"

 

[james19000]

But you knew the day when the Scaffolder/Roofer was going to start ! Why didnt you stop them prior to that day, and say there was no written agreement that they should carry out the work ?

Quote= " On the day the cheapest roofer/scaffolding team were supposed to start, no one turned up to do the work"

The neighbour wrote to us 3 days (Evening of Thursday) before roofer was supposed to start saying that they paid they're deposit and said we has to pay our's, but 3 day's beforehand, we were in the position, that we had not made a final decision on the roofer in question and wanted to see examples of their work and actually get to spend time with the director of the company and see how we felt about things.

During the weekend, we met up with the roofer and visited several properties.... and at the end of our time with him, we brought up the conversation of insulation and then when he told us that he would have to requote on the insulation, we told him that we need a new estimate for the insulation.

We didn't agree with the neighbours, to use the company,
we didn't agree with the neighbours that the company should start work on the Monday in question
we didn't agree with the builder that he should start the work.

We weren't even sure what was going to happen on the Monday, because on the Saturday before we told the builder that we needed to have a new estimate....

 

[geraldthehamster]

Sounds like a misunderstanding at an early stage. Can't really comment without hearing the neighbour's side of it (which we're unlikely to do unless they read this forum).

 

[Nige F]

Sounds like an ideal one for the Judge Rinder programme on ITV

 

[Bosswhite]

 

[flameport]

Cut to a year later.... the cheapest building company in question declared bankruptcy and now our neighbours are saying they cant get their deposit back.

Unfortunate, but unless your neighbour paid the deposit with a credit card there is nothing they or anyone else can do about it.
Why your neighbour has waited for a year is something only they can know.

Our neighbours are now wanting to take us to small claims court to repay their lost deposit, saying that because we didn't pay our share of the deposit, the roofing company cancelled the job and having spent the money on materials etc, were not in a position to return the money.

You do not have your neighbour's deposit, and never did.
Not likely the roofing company would have purchased materials etc. with only part of the deposit they requested, and even if they did, any agreement about what that deposit may have been used for is between your neighbour and the roofing company.

 

[james19000]

interested to hear what lie it is that you think you can smell....

 

[Bosswhite]

Reading through your first post it looks like there are three distinct Contracts, first your neighbour and yourself are jointly responsible for the roof repairs. No problem there.
Secondly Estimates were given on the repair work, the cheapest estimate being accepted, work to commence on a deposit payment paid by both parties. no problem there.
But you chose to with hold your potion pending additional works to be carried out by the roofer regarding additional lagging this had no benefit to your neighbour so it would have been a separate arrangement between yourself and the roofer, regarding the cost ( a Third Contract which you seem to have disputed)
Although a date was set to commence the work, ( Which you admit) because the roofer had not received the deposit in full, the second contract was broken by yourself, it appears the roofer was waiting until the full deposit was paid before commencing work, as per contract

As to the roofer going Bankrupt that is irrelevant, it could be down to Market Forces at the time not the standard of his workmanship.
There seems to be a very longtime lag ( about two years) Why is that ???

Because you with held your portion of the deposit and broke the contract, your neighbour has lost his deposit, so IMO has every right to claim back the monies from you.

Let it go to Court and let us know what the outcome is

 

[james19000]

Secondly Estimates were given on the repair work, the cheapest estimate being accepted, work to commence on a deposit payment paid by both parties. no problem there.
But you chose to with hold your potion pending additional works to be carried out by the roofer regarding additional lagging this had no benefit to your neighbour so it would have been a separate arrangement between yourself and the roofer, regarding the cost ( a Third Contract which you seem to have disputed)
Although a date was set to commence the work, ( Which you admit) because the roofer had not received the deposit in full, the second contract was broken by yourself, it appears the roofer was waiting until the full deposit was paid before commencing work, as per contract

Estimates were given, but never accepted. There is nothing in writing/ verbal from us, accepting the estimate,

the additional lagging would have been a quote which we would have paid, but the cost of lagging/ insulation on the joists would have been subtracted from the overall cost of insulation which we would have paid half and then the additional cost of insulation in the rafters.

Additionally there was no agreement between us, that we would use the company in question.

Any how like you say, more than happy to see what happens with the courts...
thanks for your comments...