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Everything you always wanted to know about France - from France |
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My Builder Has Gone Out Of Business Owing Me MoneyHi Tony,I would be grateful if you had any advice on the following situation which we have encountered. We purchased a house in France a few years ago but it needed considerable renovation and we employed a local builder to do same. He has done half of the work, but we have paid him for a lot more and his enterprise has gone bust, owing us a not inconsiderable sum of money. Unfortunately the liquidation has been complete and all the creditors have been paid. All of this took place in early November, and the builder never told us of the difficulties he was encountering, just prior to our arriving, to inspect the work!!! Needless to say we are very upset, as my husband is retired and we have put our savings into this project. Apparently the builder, whom we know and who has done work for us before on the house, has lost everything, his house and vans etc. however this does not help our situation. We have written to the liquidator, and to a solicitor, to see if there is any hope of our recovering our money, and would welcome any views or similar experiences readers have on this matter. Kind regards, B == Hello B I am sorry to hear your problem. Unfortunately this is a very common occurrence. It is too late to say "never pay for work in advance", a deposit or stage payments is normal but you should be aware of problems very quickly. Is the builder correctly registered, do you have correct estimates for the work, are the invoices for the completed work correct with his Numero Siret on? These are basic questions as you should have appeared as a creditor hthe liquidators - if not it is possible (even likely) that the builder did not correctly deal with you or declare the work for you. If so you are both involved in tax avoidance. If all the work and payments are correct an you have the receipts and invoices there should be a case for a legal claim from the liquidators as you should have appeared as a creditor and have been notified of the liquidation so you could make a claim - you will need a French lawyer for this. If not I am afraid you have no claim at all. I know of many people who have lost much by builders working in this way. I hope this works out for you, do let me know how you get on. Bonne Chance Tony == Dear Tony, This is very helpful information and I do appreciate your assistance. I have kept receipts of all of the payments, which I sent, but I did not receive any acknowledgements or receipts from the builder for the completed work done. He had already carried out work for the local Maire, and the Maire's assistant is our neighbour, so it is unlikely that he would be moonlighting as such, and not keeping his papers in order. But you never know. Also, he is a local man and seemed a pretty decent type, and people around know his family well. We did only pay for work done in stages, and he did seem to be working quite quickly on the project, but then suddenly things just stopped after we sent him the last consignment and it was from our neighbour that we heard that his enterprise had gone bust. It is terrible that we have been duped in this way. We received a Devis initially, but I have a feeling that you are correct and that we were not listed amongst the creditors, especially when he did not have the decency to let us know that his business had collapsed. Seeing as France is a Republic and very much into the rights of the individual, surely there must be some mechanism to protect innocents abroad such as us, from unscrupulous builders. For instance, is there no state tribunal one can go to.? The liquidator's office, did say that our case was "tres faible" and mentioned that he would go on to a list of debtors, but I am not sure of the implications or significance of this. Could the builder not be made in a court of law to carry out the work outstanding for us without payment, seeing as he has made off with our money.? I am sure that if this case were pursued properly he would have some accounting to do. I don't feel like lying down and accepting this as a fait accompli, there has to be some redress for this type of mismanagement. I shall keep you posted and thanks again but I am less optimistic now. Regards, B == Dear B Unless you were making stage payments against a certified contract (one notified would be best), it is probable that you were making an "unsecured and unregistered payment" to the builder and are therefore not a creditor . Unfortunately I believe the liquidator is correct - you have a very weak case. In France everything relating to payment has to be done officially with clear contractual terms signed, noted and witnessed. There is no such thing as a verbal contract or agreement - correct legal contracts have to be done in a very formal and official way. I am not suggesting that the builder was not going to declare the money you gave him (although most keep as much as they can under tea table) but it is most likely that he had not processed you payments through his books and would normally delay this as long as possible to avoid paying costs, taxes, turnover tax, and a host of other penalties. As you have no invoices for the work, this seems most likely and therefore you have no claim for work done or promised. You could try to sue for fraud - but as this is the normal way of working in France I doubt you have any grounds. Nor does he have any assets now you say. Things are done very differently in France - unfortunately many French builders take advantage of foreigners in this way knowing they believe they are ignorant of the rules - builders, neighbours and even local police have tried to trick me to sign pieces of innocent looking paper or pay money against a hand written promise - when I ask for a Notarised contract they leave muttering and I never hear from them again. I recommend you speak to an attorney here - it is not expensive and would cost you under 200 euro for a couple of hours consultation. Best wishes Tony == There are over 2,000 features and articles on this site about French life and living in France. You can search from the search box above. Do browse through our website and please use the advertising links, they help pay for the site. I do try to reply to all mail - Contact Me - most is about property or living in France. 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