Renovation Gone Wrong. Help with Law

[FelipeRRM]

Hi, I am in process of renovating my apartment in Malmö and it's a disaster: During the project there was a leak and the brand new parquet floor we bought is ruined on the kitchen area, and there are other problems to fix.
The company does not want to pay for this, and has now abandoned the project, not fixing the last things that need fixing. I am wondering what should I do. Should I sue them, or complain to some institution like ARN directly?

Another thing that happened during the project: the owner of the company threatened to abandon the project because he realized the fixed price he gave me was too low in his opinion, and coerced me in paying other people through Swish so he could avoid taxes. Since I had no more budget to hire a new company and I needed the apartment to be able to move in, I did it. I assume that this is illegal and I want to report him to the authorities, can I get in trouble myself for having made the payment?

 

[klaskarlsson]

Hi, I am in process of renovating my apartment in Malmö and it's a disaster: During the project there was a leak and the brand new parquet floor we bought is ruined on the kitchen area, and there are other problems to fix.
The company does not want to pay for this, and has now abandoned the project, not fixing the last things that need fixing. I am wondering what should I do. Should I sue them, or complain to some institution like ARN directly?

Another thing that happened during the project: the owner of the company threatened to abandon the project because he realized the fixed price he gave me was too low in his opinion, and coerced me in paying other people through Swish so he could avoid taxes. Since I had no more budget to hire a new company and I needed the apartment to be able to move in, I did it. I assume that this is illegal and I want to report him to the authorities, can I get in trouble myself for having made the payment?

In general you should never pay up front, only after the job has been done (and maybe inspected). It is much harder to get any money back than having the right to withhold them.
In you municipality (Malmö) there is a "konsumentvägledare" who all residents in the muncpality can contact to get help with what rights you have and what you can do to move forward.

It is in Swedish but you should be able to translate it with google:
https://malmo.se/Bo-och-leva/Stod-och-omsorg/Forsorjning-och-ekonomi/Konsumentradgivning.html

You can contact ARN directly: Usually that does not help you very much though. ARN only recommends compaines to specific actions, and they cannot do much unless the Contractor follows ARN's recommendation. If they dont, you still need to take them to court yourself :/

In general: If you have a contract the contractor is obliged to do the work accordingly, and if any big unforeseen issues arise, for which they could not have accounted, they need to raise that question and then a re-negotiation could take place before they do more work. If you then conclude that you cannot pay more, then the contract may be broken and you shall only pay for the work done so far. But such things are complicated: What is for instance a "major unforeseen issue": In general it doesnt mean: Things got more expensive. But rather for instance: You contracted them to lay a new floor, but it turned out that a major water damage was revealed when they removed the old floor, or something along those lines.

Any damages occurring during construction they need to pay/fix, usually they should have an insurance to cover this.

Yes paying "under the table" can be seen as a crime from both parties and both could be convicted to pay fines. It is not illegal to pay through Swish, or be payed from Swish in itself: But if the contractor did not declare the income properly it could be seen as a crime. Then of course, should it go that far, ifa judge looks at this: Were you aware that this was to evade taxes, or did you just pay through Swish thinking it was ok and that the contractor would declare this (which they are obliged to do during next year, so it may not be too late yet)?
But you can always anonymously tip of Skatteverket, although as said: such an investigation could involve you as well...

https://lawline.se/answers/vad-blir-straffet-for-den-som-koper-och-den-som-utfor-ett-svartjobb

https://www.skatteverket.se/omoss/kontaktaoss/mejlaoss/tipsaommisstanktfusk.4.7afdf8a313d3421e9a9561.html#:~:text=Du kan tipsa helt anonymt,oss förebygga och bekämpa skattebrott.

 

[FelipeRRM]

In general you should never pay up front, only after the job has been done (and maybe inspected). It is much harder to get any money back than having the right to withhold them.
In you municipality (Malmö) there is a "konsumentvägledare" who all residents in the muncpality can contact to get help with what rights you have and what you can do to move forward.

It is in Swedish but you should be able to translate it with google:
[länk]

You can contact ARN directly: Usually that does not help you very much though. ARN only recommends compaines to specific actions, and they cannot do much unless the Contractor follows ARN's recommendation. If they dont, you still need to take them to court yourself :/

In general: If you have a contract the contractor is obliged to do the work accordingly, and if any big unforeseen issues arise, for which they could not have accounted, they need to raise that question and then a re-negotiation could take place before they do more work. If you then conclude that you cannot pay more, then the contract may be broken and you shall only pay for the work done so far. But such things are complicated: What is for instance a "major unforeseen issue": In general it doesnt mean: Things got more expensive. But rather for instance: You contracted them to lay a new floor, but it turned out that a major water damage was revealed when they removed the old floor, or something along those lines.

Any damages occurring during construction they need to pay/fix, usually they should have an insurance to cover this.

Yes paying "under the table" can be seen as a crime from both parties and both could be convicted to pay fines. It is not illegal to pay through Swish, or be payed from Swish in itself: But if the contractor did not declare the income properly it could be seen as a crime. Then of course, should it go that far, ifa judge looks at this: Were you aware that this was to evade taxes, or did you just pay through Swish thinking it was ok and that the contractor would declare this (which they are obliged to do during next year, so it may not be too late yet)?
But you can always anonymously tip of Skatteverket, although as said: such an investigation could involve you as well...

[länk]

[länk] kan tipsa helt anonymt,oss förebygga och bekämpa skattebrott.

Thanks for the thorough reply. I will look into this.

It's very sad that I can also be fined for paying "under the table" since I was coerced into doing it. Wondering what would the correct approach be in a case like this then?

Look at it from this angle: you have an expiring rental contract, you need somewhere to live and your apartment is renovating. Your contractor tells you he will stop the project unless you pay him "under the table" by Swishing different people with different messages like "playstation", "computer" , etc.. Even though you know it's wrong, it's the only option you have otherwise he would abandon the project and you would be homeless, as it wouldn't be enough time to find a company to replace this one and start the project quickly, besides costing more money (and I didn't have the budget).

 

[klaskarlsson]

Thanks for the thorough reply. I will look into this.

It's very sad that I can also be fined for paying "under the table" since I was coerced into doing it. Wondering what would the correct approach be in a case like this then?

Look at it from this angle: you have an expiring rental contract, you need somewhere to live and your apartment is renovating. Your contractor tells you he will stop the project unless you pay him "under the table" by Swishing different people with different messages like "playstation", "computer" , etc.. Even though you know it's wrong, it's the only option you have otherwise he would abandon the project and you would be homeless, as it wouldn't be enough time to find a company to replace this one and start the project quickly, besides costing more money (and I didn't have the budget).

Yes, you are often the weaker part. But then again: If such a case goes as far as the court I think they will consider this as well. The outcome one can only speculate about though...
The general idea however is that neither the customer nor the contractor should have any incentive to pay under the table, and that is is against the law.

So the correct approach would be to refuse to do such fishy transactions: Let him stop the project, withhold any non paid money, which should be an absolute majority of the money unless the project is finished: Usually you should not pay anything up front (maybe only for the material).
And then get another contractor to finish the job, if the first one refuses.

You are even eligible, under the law, to make the first contractor pay for any extra costs that the second contractor may occur, if it is because the first one did not do a proper job and did not correct it (or refused to)...in practice however, getting that money back may be hard.

But it seems like you have been tricked into a lot of things: So reporting this to the proper authorities is the right thing to do. But use the local consumer council that i tipped you about; They should be able to guide you. And their services are free.