Can cowboy builder sue me if I sell his abandoned digger?

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diggerpolu

Guest
I hired a cowboy builder to renovate our house 3 years ago, to make the story short, he had never finished the project and the work that he had done has bad workmanship. He abandon building site after 3 months and left his digger on site.

I engaged a solicitor to send a letter to him to request him to repair and finish the building work, together with a defect report from a charted building surveyor, the cowboy builder ignored letter.

The digger which he left in our yard has been leaking oil since then; a year ago I send a letter to the builder to solve the issue. Surprising I got a quick response from him says he is willing to remove his digger and he will arrange an environmental engineer to visit our site to solve the pollution problem, which never happened.

Since I didn’t hear anything from the builder for several months, I send a letter to the builder indicated that I am planning to sell his digger to recover partial of my loss. I got a quick response again; the letter from the builder says that in the event if I am trying to sell the digger, he will have to make a formal complaint to the Garda Siochana.

Since then I didn’t hear anything from the builder any more despites trying to contact him, that was three months ago.

What is the consequence if I sell his digger to recover part of our loss? Can the builder sue us?

Our family has been living in a building site for the past 3 years due to the cost to repair the damage the builder did in our house in far beyond I can afford.

I cannot leave the digger on site any more due to that I am worried that the leaking oil from the digger may possibly wash into our well by the rain in which case will pollute our only water supply.
 
Can the gardai do anything about removing it? I would imagine they should be your first port of call. Or would it be the council? They are responsible for littering and removing abandoned cars, aren't they?

As there is also oil leaking and causing a problem I'd also contact the Environmental Protection Agency and ask them for help.
 
I'm no expert on law but I think I heard once that in a case similar to this that the owner of the land can claim ownership after a year and a day of the object been abandoned. So presumably after three years you should be ok.
 
Unsolicited goods can be kept after 6 months provided you have given the original owner adequate opportunity to recover them.

Many years ago I had a similar situation but with goods I was renting and when I wanted to end the rental agreement the company I was renting from failed to collect them. I took several days off to meet them, etc and eventually sent them a letter claiming they were now unsolicited goods and heard no more for a good long while. Eventually someone competent took over and contacted me about why rent hadn't been paid in so long. When I pointed him at the letter he said that was the end of the matter.

I would contact the builder one last time, tell him to collect it and make good the damage within a week and (assuming he doesn't) sell it.

You may wish to check with your solicitor before selling it.
 
Its not easy to find somewhere to park a digger, they're huge.

I sincerely hope you are charging him 3 years worth of storage/parking fees on the digger parked on your property?

Id definitely sell it if I were you, sure it could have been stolen - who is to know what happens to your property if you carelessly leave it lying around on someone elses land for 3 years.
 
What did your contract say about unfinished works and abandoned chattels. When we engaged a builder I think the standard contract we used allowed us to keep and sell equipment that was left on site.
 
We didn’t have a building contract; the renovation project was meant to be finished within 3 weeks and he dragged it out for 3 months and never finished… 3 years later.

The builder was recommended by his cousin a local plumber who did work in our home previously that it’s why we didn’t doubt his credibility. It was only later we found out that he was only working as sub-contractor before and this was his first building project and he doesn’t own any building company. This guy is capable of telling any lies, for example, the insurance paperwork he showed to us was taken out a few days after we requested it from him and then the policy was cancelled soon after the day he showed to us.

I don’t think the bank owns the digger as it is an old type 1988 CASE digger and it is not working any more, the engine cylinders has filled with rain water through the exhaust, as a result the only value the digger has is only scrap value which is around 2000 euro. I would be hoping to use this money to rectify the oil pollution issue.

The builder said he is willing to remove the digger but wasn’t willing to rectify the pollution. If I let him take away the digger I probably won’t see him anymore.
 
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