L
Landlord
I'm a landlord who renovates properties for rent and for sale. I'm currently renovating eight flats and I employed an NICEIC-registered electrician to do the modifications to some flats/rewire others. During the time he was doing this I also got him months of work on other building jobs I was doing for private customers.
We agreed a daily "mates rate" for him which included him mucking in to do non-electrical stuff on the renovations of the eight flats. We also agreed a price for him to do the NICEIC installation and periodic certificates. I paid him as we went along. During the renovation of the second-last of eight flats I paid him for the certificates when a private customer I'd done a roof for turned up at the door and paid me in cash. He was there and it was easier than taking the money to the bank.
Now at the end of the job he's claiming that I didn't pay him for any of the certificates. He actually emailed me the installation certificates minus his signature so I suppose I have them? He left the physical certificates in a file which I put in a drawer on the property but he took them back without me knowing. So I currently have emailed copies of the installation certificates but not the periodics and I have two one-page installation certificates for two flats out of eight.
I didn't actually keep a written record of what I paid him. I know this is stupid but he's a mate. We used to go for a drink after work and everything. He's now asking me for an unspecified amount of money to give me the paperwork I need. He's doing this because he's a qualified solar installer who is doing zero business at the minute -- I was helping him out by letting him muck in with the non-electrical stuff but other than jobs via me he's had about half a dozen jobs all year and he's not doing so well, so he's after as much as he can get from Mr. Muggins here. So please, can you tell me what my best course of action is in this situation. Many thanks in advance and thanks for reading.
We agreed a daily "mates rate" for him which included him mucking in to do non-electrical stuff on the renovations of the eight flats. We also agreed a price for him to do the NICEIC installation and periodic certificates. I paid him as we went along. During the renovation of the second-last of eight flats I paid him for the certificates when a private customer I'd done a roof for turned up at the door and paid me in cash. He was there and it was easier than taking the money to the bank.
Now at the end of the job he's claiming that I didn't pay him for any of the certificates. He actually emailed me the installation certificates minus his signature so I suppose I have them? He left the physical certificates in a file which I put in a drawer on the property but he took them back without me knowing. So I currently have emailed copies of the installation certificates but not the periodics and I have two one-page installation certificates for two flats out of eight.
I didn't actually keep a written record of what I paid him. I know this is stupid but he's a mate. We used to go for a drink after work and everything. He's now asking me for an unspecified amount of money to give me the paperwork I need. He's doing this because he's a qualified solar installer who is doing zero business at the minute -- I was helping him out by letting him muck in with the non-electrical stuff but other than jobs via me he's had about half a dozen jobs all year and he's not doing so well, so he's after as much as he can get from Mr. Muggins here. So please, can you tell me what my best course of action is in this situation. Many thanks in advance and thanks for reading.