money issues with building contractor

miccy203

hi was just wondering if you could answer me a question?? My mother in law got a grant off the council for 30,000 to build a bedroom and bathroom down stairs. she got the builder contractor in and he told her that he would do it for 30,000 and told her that is all he would need, now the building work is finished he is looking for 4,100 more off her and that its the vat she has to pay. my mother in law is only on disability benefit and doesn't have the means even to come up wit it and now the builder is calling up to the house putting alot of pressure on her. I was just wondering does she have to pay it even though the original quote was only 30,000

muffler

You need to check the original quote in detail to see if the price included VAT. It should have.

Id also ring the council and ask them to check their files and see what quote they have. Some builders send their quote directly to the council.

In any event just be careful as the grant is only 90% of the agreed figure. At least it was that way for the last few years unless something changed recently.

ninjaBob

Does she have the original quote in writing?
Does she have a Schedule for the works to be done?
Did you get receipts from him as it was being developed.

It does sound like he is chancing his arm, but if you had something in writing it would certainly help.

[Edit] Beaten to it.

sinnerboy

In the absence of documents write to the builder with your understanding of the costs . Ask him to demonstrate otherwise . The thread is straying into legal territory now so "click"