Tradie completes the job without any authorisation to do so

one of my IP had a leaking shower and my PM asked me to see if i can organise a shower sealer to seal the damage. Called around a few places and told them to call and liase with my pm.

From what i know none of the guys actually visited the property.and gave the quotes based on situation they heard from the PM.

Although it seemed one of them (national company) asked for the tennants number in the case of viewing the shower.

Anyway quotes came through and i was happy with a local shower sealers quote and was in process of having my pm choose them when the pm said she contacted the tennant to organise a time and she said the job was done. After her liasing she found out it was the one that had the tennants number (national company).

Invoice has not been paid and I have no intention to pay them - the quotes 25% dearer and either way i dont feel its right that the business gets a cent from me when i did not authorise them to do any work.

Will be contacting my PM tomorrow (she already emailed me saying she will not pay them unless i instruct them too)

What options do i have if they threaten me with legal action? Could i threaten them with legal action considering they have tampered with my house without any authorisation?
I will ask them for all evidence showing that the job was authorised.

 

Stand firm mate...

Without a formal work order, email confirmation, signed quote etc they won't get very far beyond a lot of yelling and screaming about needing to be paid. (Even if they threaten legal action, just remember it is very different to actually instigating legal action).

Oh yeah, keep copies of the comparable quotes you received. Abosolute worst case scenario, you can use these as justification to negotiate the amount you have to pay them down to what is fair and reasonable)

 

Stupid tradie . NOTHING gets done from our factory without a written go ahead from the PM of the property. (We fit security screens)

We get tenant details as a standard with maintenance requests from the PM and we loose with the tenant. The tenant is informed that "as soon as we ge the go ahead from the office" we will call you to arrange installation.

Don't pay this bill, call it a win

 

You will also need to ensure that the work was actually done and to standard.

 

Sounds like the PM must have given them the go ahead?

They probably called the PM and said that they already arranged it with you and didn't confirm that was actually the case.

If PM gave go ahead, then yes you're liable for the trade's bill because PM has authority to act on your behalf. If you didn't authorise PM to make decisions then you can sort that out with them as a separate matter.

 

Even for PM to authorise the job, do they have only permission for certain dollar amount specified in the management agreement ?

 

Yup, but that's a matter between PM and client, not tradey

 

I'd just pay them 75% (you said they were 25% higher in cost)
Throw them a copy of the quote from the other company, tell them you didn't authorize them to do the job and just pay the lowest quote. Chances are they wouldn't pursue it and in the process you're not being a prick.

 

If there is no work order sent to them they should not be doing the work.
A win/win would be to ask them to match the quote you were happy with, that way your job got done, you paid what you wanted and you can move on. (assuming it was all done correctly and there are no more shower leaks).

 

bit out of it at the moment so hopefully this reply answers all the replies

1) PM did not give the go ahead as she was as surprised as me when she called the tennant to arrange a time so my preffered tradie could do the repairs she was told someone else came and completed the repairs.

2) can i take legal action against the tradie for tampering with my house without my permission? (honestly do not care) but i have no interest in paying the invoice but if they want to pursue the legal course then i believe i should be the one able to sue considering someone tampered with my property without my permission.

Will call the PM tomorrow

 

In a nut shell, yes you can however there may be a challenge arguing that you actually wanted the shower alcove to leak. They should not have repaired it without a work order but they did repair it not damage it but if you want to take on the challenge.....

 

Firstly, check how much your PM is authorised to spend without consulting you. If the figure is too high, amend it so you don't get stung in future.

Secondly, if the tradie has no authorisation to proceed with work from yourself or the PM, they have no recourse. They can threaten you if they wish - they will not win in the small claims court (VCAT or QCAT or whatever your small claims court via consumer affairs is called in your state).

Thirdly, sometimes these things can work in your favour. If they did a job and are charging you far less than it would have cost you elsewhere and you knew you would have had to get the job done anyway really soon, you might want to bite your tongue and swallow your pride and go with it, provided they provide you with the appropriate certificates of compliance of works done. There might also be the opportunity to claim you are very embarrassed because the work was done without authorisation and you physically cannot afford the invoice but are a fair person and would of course be receptive to a meet-in-the-middle arrangement. Otherwise known as please discount your invoice heavily, learn from this, I will pay you a portion of the invoice and not cause a fuss. Then you tell your PM to mark on file that this particular tradie is NEVER to step foot in one of your properties ever again.

 

as above not really but if they want to pursue legal action then why not

I have no idea what extent of repair they did
the method they used and the guarantee is useless (considering i do not want anything to do with the business)

 

Gach you can legally get away with not paying the invoice - there is nothing the tradie can do to make you pay. I'm not sure about suing them though, very slim chance and I personally would not bother with it.

 

They will find it hard to sue you for breach of contract if there is no contract, but contracts can be verbal so they are likely to argue you or the agent gave the go ahead. If they sue you then you will have to either pay or file a defence or come to an agreement.

They have done the work and you have benefited from that so they have a case to sue you.

 

Sorry to be pedantic but you would pay them 80% if they were 25% higher.

 

They fixed the problem, you have a moral obligation to pay them - negotiate the payment according to the quotes you received.

 

I've had this happen with a garage door issue. I called the guy that did the work, negotiated to pay the lowest quote I had gotten. He's out of pocket (from his perspective), but he took it as cost of doing business and not getting approval before doing the work.

 

If this happened it would be important to clarify what the tenant is authorized to order without clearing it with the PM. There will be a spend limit and there will also be a definition of what is considered to be an urgent repair. I don't think this qualifies as urgent. Thus if the tenant authorised the work, then the invoice is the tenant's to enjoy.