Extensions

Witholding and deducting from final payment - legalities?

Anonymous user 15/03/2024 - 2.42 PM

We have had quite a bit of work done to the house including a single story extension and 3 internal chimney breasts removed (stack left intact with steel supports). At first the builder seemed great but his standards have slipped towards the end and there have been quite a few issues. Main issues are (starting with the lesser ones): 1. Where plaster was patched where chimney breast removed, he skimmed over old wallpaper which looked a real mess. I've had to knock it off and have that section re-skimmed. 2. He's done a lot of plastering within the old section of the house but hasn't removed fronts from sockets and switches so these are plastered in place. I've had to dig them out and repair the plaster around them. 3. He has disconnected the attic light and external light whilst doing other electrics and has not reconnected them. He's now saying he can't reconnect the external light without damaging all the plaster in the extension. 4. He forgot to bury the pipework for the radiator in the wall in the extension and left it a right mess with plastic pipes on show underneath. I said I wasn't happy with it so he's reluctantly agreed to sort it, but this has delayed the carpet fitters coming and so put us behind schedule for moving back in by 2 weeks and so incurring extra storage costs (we're already 2 weeks behind as it all took longer than he said) 5. He had to remove the boiler flue as it was in the way and preventing him from fitting the steel to support the chimney stack. Firstly, he didn't tell me this had left a big hole in the roof and just put a bucket under it (I thought it vented into the chimney so there wouldn't be an additional hole). Secondly, he removed it incorrectly- just yanked it through into the loft rather than pushing it up through the roof. This has caused £400 of damage to the roof. 6. The roofers advised us that he hadn't capped and vented the chimney stack so it is raining straight into the loft via the chimney. 7. There are issues with the electrical compliance - he's used an old circuit with no RCD protection and just added extra sockets. Hes saying its been signed off as fine but I've been advised by several electricians that this is not ok and will not meet Part P. I want a second opinion and any problems rectifying. We have paid him the majority of the money in installments but still owe him £7k. My feeling is that I want to get other people in to fix all the problems and deduct this from his final payment, plus the extras it has cost us, eg. Delays incurring extra costs. However, my husband is concerned about the legalities of this. Can anyone advise where we stand? If possible, I just want him gone ASAP. Thanks