Know Your Rights: Contractor Issues (VIDEO)

Hi, my name is John Lawless, staff attorney with Bay Area Legal Services’ Disaster Relief Team and the Florida Disaster Legal Aid Helpline. I’m here with my colleague Jason to discuss some simple steps anyone can take to avoid common issues while recovering from disaster.

Today, we’re here to talk about common issues that survivors have with construction contracts. Our discussion will be about work and contracts in Florida, so if you are watching this from elsewhere please remember that these rules can change significantly from state to state.

Many issues can arise with having work done on your home after a disaster, but today we’re going to focus on the obligations of a licensed contractor who has agreed to do work on your home. Remember that you can and should always make sure you are hiring qualified professionals for any construction on your home.

You can always verify licensing by visiting the Florida Department of Business and professional Regulation’s website, and clicking on “Verify License”.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s take a look at what might happen after you enter into a contract for repairs and make a down payment. Jason, you’ve recently become a licensed contractor.

Congratulations, Jason. Have you signed any customers?

Wow. Fantastic. You even remembered to give the customer a clearly visible 3 day right of recission and left a written copy with them.

Did you take any money from the customer?

Huh. 640 million dollars in bearer bonds. It looks like Jason has accepted 10% or more of the total contract price. Now that he has done that, he has some obligations to fulfil. First, Jason has to apply for any necessary permits within 30 days. Let’s see what he does. Usually we might ask for a little help from our friend THE CHRONOMANCER, but he’s on vacation. So, we’ll just have to wait it out.

It has now been 30 days. Jason, have you applied for all of the necessary permits?

Jason missed the deadline. Right now, his customer could write him a letter to demand that he either apply for the permit within the next 30 days or give all of the money back. We’ll talk more about that in a moment. Right now it looks like Jason is trying hard though, so let’s see what would happen if he did have the permits. Now, he has to start work within 90 days of those permits.

It has now been 90 days since the permits were issued. Jason, have you done any work?

Uh-oh. Jason still hasn’t done what he needs to do. Unless Jason has a really good reason for not doing anything, his customer can write a letter demanding that he start work or give back the money within 30 days. The customer has to send this letter if they want to take advantage of the specific law that obligates the contractor to comply.

Look, there’s the letter. What will it be, Jason? Will you start work, or give the money back? Either one will do.

It’s been more than 30 days. Jason, why are you still here?

Now that Jason has not done anything required by the letter from his customer, Jason can of course be sued by his customer. The worse news for Jason is that he can now also be charged with a crime for violating the provision of Section 489.126, Florida Statutes.

For a customer who knows their rights, this can be a powerful tool to make sure their home is repaired in a timely manner.

It looks like Jason is in a lot of trouble. It doesn’t matter if he really meant to help the customer or not – if he violated the rules, the penalties still apply.

We appreciate you taking the time to listen. For more information on what to do in the wake of a disaster, please visit the following resources.