My contractor has not finished the job of renovating my house ... plenty of o/s points still to take care of.
He has been very evasive at the best of times.. charges a lot, does poor work, hopes no-one complains, when I do then he insists it is fine, eventually if I am very lucky begrudgingly brings someone in to make good.. Usually relies on me to point out his mistakes, etc etc.
When I recently broached the idea of withholding payment (5% of the entire house works - approx £90k) for a couple of weeks, to inspect that house has all be done up to a suitable standard, he went wild. Said he doesn't think it's ethical because we never agreed on a retention.
However, we never actually sat down and signed any sort of contract. He did email me a list of works to be done under the title 'Contract'..but I didn't sign it, and it wasn't' in the form or layout of a contract.
My question now is - am I legally and/or ethically entitled to insist on a retention, even though we never agreed on one from the start, seeing as there was never a contract per se? (and seeing as he has proved himself to be a lazy overpriced scoundrel)
Any advice gratefully accepted.
He has been very evasive at the best of times.. charges a lot, does poor work, hopes no-one complains, when I do then he insists it is fine, eventually if I am very lucky begrudgingly brings someone in to make good.. Usually relies on me to point out his mistakes, etc etc.
When I recently broached the idea of withholding payment (5% of the entire house works - approx £90k) for a couple of weeks, to inspect that house has all be done up to a suitable standard, he went wild. Said he doesn't think it's ethical because we never agreed on a retention.
However, we never actually sat down and signed any sort of contract. He did email me a list of works to be done under the title 'Contract'..but I didn't sign it, and it wasn't' in the form or layout of a contract.
My question now is - am I legally and/or ethically entitled to insist on a retention, even though we never agreed on one from the start, seeing as there was never a contract per se? (and seeing as he has proved himself to be a lazy overpriced scoundrel)
Any advice gratefully accepted.