[J. Deans]

Hi Den.

The answer from the 'Lawyer' seems a bit odd, I know.
For a start, I am not an employee of the management company and they have not made the job redundant. So what all that means, I do not know.

You ask how I knew about the tender? I assume you mean in the begining.
I was called on the phone and requested to carry out the cleaning of the communal area of a block of flats that I had 'build-cleaned' during construction, by the management company that had just accepted them from the developers.

So yes, initially it was verbal. Price was also agreed on the phone.

I requested, and got an email from them, stating acceptance of price and confirmation to go ahead with the cleaning.

A letter arrived a short time later confirming all of the above and a few more details about the management company - invoicing procedure, payment run etc.

It was easy to win the small claims case. With the info above, as well as more letters from them, trying to explain why (excuses) they had not issued my payments (five months by the time it went to court)
All of that, along with my invoices, statements and warning letters of court action - they could hardly deny that they were in the wrong.

One thing I do know, you don't need a dirty great contract to get paid for the work you have already done! Just basic information showing that you were asked to do the work, you did the work and an agreement on price for that work.

The consensus of opinion appears to be indicating that I don't have a case and that it is not worth the risk anyway.

Having said that. 'Opinion' was not what I was after.
I will look at the ACAS site again - but it seems to deal primarily with employee issues - which I am not.

Thanks anyway guys.

[Robert Parry]

The law is quite clear on this matter, providing your client issued you with a written notice of termination, you can do nothing to change their mind using the law. The one exception maybe collusion or some sort of fraud, thinks thats two  .

You, as the contractor, have the same rights of course, I mentioned in my previous post, that no legal contract exists or will exist that will force someone to do business with you.

Unless of course your a corgi reg plumber!

Regards,

Rob

[Fox]

I have also been to court and won against a company that wouldn't pay and I didn't have a contract at the time neither all you have to show is they asked you to do the work and that you did it as you said.  I have also almost taken a company to court for not giving me the required three months in my contract, however before getting there their lawyer advised them to settle.

For notice you definately need a contract if you want to dictate the length required, I had your situation at one point many moons ago  and know this to be the law, even with a contract if what you are asking is deemed unreasonable it won't stand up.  I learnt my lesson and do not carry out any work without a contract, ACAS won't give you that info but i believe previously someone mentioned FSB, they are definately worth the membership fee and will give you legal advice 24/7.

Fox

[shelton]

With all respect, if you are not after 'opinion', why post a legally challenging topic on a cleaning forum?

If you don't like the answer, it's not our fault.

[cml]

It is not my attention to offend but advice and opinions is exactly what you sought.

Food for thought!!

You won your case simply by performance of a service for which you required payment .  This is not too difficult for any court or anyone to work out what I was trying to do is ascertain whether there may have been more details about your contract  raised at court that you could use to support your view.  Most civil actions such as this only requires  proof on the balance of the probabilities so if you were to persuade the courts to accept your version of events then you may be successful. 

I detect an undertone that you are still exploring your options to prove your version or interpretation of events.  ACAS predominately deal with employment and as you said you are not an employee so your left with the option of paying for legal advice unless you can get some for free. 

[J. Deans]

Hi CML
No offence taken - but to clarify:

Any suggestions, gratefully recieved - especially if it points to legislation that I can quote to this management company.

Also, I am not arguing the point about winning the case for non-payment.
I was merely answering Den's question.

If I can get the information without paying some lawyer extortionate amounts of money, why not?

Yes, I am still exploring options - but to be truthfull, this is a learning process.
This contract was a pretty minor one. Although, I was hoping that eventually it may have expanded to many more communal areas for this management company.
Had that happened - to lose a contract then, would have been quite devastating in the future.
Exploring the issues now, seems the right thing to do.

Having said that, and with comments like Shelton's - I am wondering if it was the right place after all.
I don't understand the defensiveness shown. I have never said, or even implied that I don't like the 'proper' answers. If someone doesn't know the answer to a question, why say anything at all?

There has been some great contributions to this topic and I am sure others have learned something from those posts as well as myself.

Cheers...

[shelton]

Having said that, and with comments like Shelton's - I am wondering if it was the right place after all.

I don't know what you mean . . .of course the General Cleaning Issues forum is the place to get advice about a written contract you never had in place.  Where else would you get it, after all?

Of course, that's sarcastic and I'm just attempting to lighten the mood. 

I think Robert hit the nail on the head over the weekend - it appears you have lost the battle of the paperwork which, at the end of the day, may only have gained you an extra couple of months notice anyway.

Yes, it's frustrating and, yes, I would probably be trying to gather as much free information as I could too.  However, as with all things, I'm sure everyone would agree there's nothing like asking an expert!

Good luck in whatever route/fight you decide to take.

[J. Deans]

Mood lightened.

Thanks Shelton.