Issues with builders

We bought an old cottage and hired a building company to complete renovations. They started the last week in April 2018 and stated that the job would take 6 weeks to complete. There was 2 hold ups on the way with the window supplier and ESB but nothing more than 4/5 weeks in total.

To date the builder has not fully completed the project. There are a number of issues still outstanding and refused to meet up to discuss the snags list. He has sent us a large bull for extras, some of which we approved along the way, some we didn't and are refusing to pay for same.

Back in August the builder took down all safety fencing around the property to allow us to stay in the house on occasions. He asked us to confirm that we accepted full responsibility for any injuries that may occur whilst we were staying in the house.

Yesterday he send us an email to say that unless payment is made and due to no Practical of Completion cert being issued that by law we should not be in the house and he would be changing the locks on the house as soon as possible.

Can he do this considering he allowed us to move into the house in August.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Just to add - we stupidly did not get a signed contract.

Hey tmcg,

The builders "stop in the name of the law" piece sounds like complete BS to me!

Sometimes with agressive folks - you need to be very, very assertive back?!

I hear you TMcG. We had the same problem years ago where our builder deserted us "because of the inclement weather" translated into English as "I'm on a bender and my love affair with alcohol has just kicked in."

We stopped paying him, had to get the job finished on direct labour (another nightmare); he employed a solicitor to taunt us and I sat down with the solicitor and explained all that had happened. He asked me for a few bob to soften our builder. I refused and never heard anything from the solicitor or builder again.

Sorry! I lie - On the house behind us 18 months later I saw our builder putting up scaffolding on a building near us. Later that day, I talked to the owner of the house and the following day the builder was removing the scaffolding.

The lack of a signed contract is a problem alright, what if anything is there in writing about the extras approved versus the others he completed? How do you prove these other extras weren't authorised?

The Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 likely apply to a complete refurb (depending on the scale of works), and if they do, it is illegal to occupy the building prior to the Certificate of Compliance being issued. That said, that does not give the builder any entitlement to prevent your access to your property.