Worker wins £2,000 after developers fail to pay up
A LABOURER has won his case against two property developers for thousands of pounds of unpaid work.
Troy Kitson won the case for unpaid expenses against The Property and Lifestyle Company Ltd – which is registered in London but has a base in Burscough – and Southport Property Developments Ltd.
Both companies were part of a joint property development venture and had not paid Mr Kitson for a total of 42 days after a dispute arose between the two bodies.
Mr Kitson has been awarded £2,100 for the unpaid expenses as well as £78 for money he paid to a plumber who needed parts while on a building site he was working on.
He had been working on a site in Ormskirk as of January 2019 but it was coming to an end.
He was approached by Andrew Wilce, director of Southport Property Developments Ltd, who offered him work at another site in Burscough; Anthony Wheble, secretary of The Property and Lifestyle Company Ltd, was also present working on the venture.
Mr Kitson was never given a written contract but was instructed on what to do on a day-byday basis by Mr Wilce while working on the site.
He was told that he should provide invoices to The Property and Lifestyle Company Ltd.
Mr Kitson told the tribunal that this was the first time in his life he had been told to provide invoices and he had been unaware of how to go about this process.
An email from Mr Wheble to Mr Kitson dated March 8 2019, read: “Hi Troy as advised to you and Andrew the other day, please can you start invoicing to the following: The Property and Lifestyle Company Limited, 1 School Lane, Burscough, Lancashire, L40 4AE.”
But at a previous hearing Mr Wheble said that it was not The Property and Lifestyle company Ltd but Southport Property Developments Ltd that had engaged Mr Kitson.
Mr Wheble said that he had not paid Mr Kitson because a dispute had arisen between him and Mr Wilce and that this dispute was going to arbitration.
He said that he expected the labourer to be paid once that dispute had been resolved but this never happened.
On March 27, the tribunal awarded Mr Kitson £2,178 in unpaid expenses and a small debt which arose on one of the construction sites – to be paid by The Property and Lifestyle Company.
There was a day when a plumber arrived at the site to work and required parts; neither Mr Wilce nor Mr Wheble were on the construction site at the time.
The plumber would not continue with his work without the parts being provided and Mr Wilce spoke to Mr Kitson on the phone, telling him to go and buy the parts with his own money.
Mr Wilce told him that he would be reimbursed but this never happened.
Mr Kitson was awarded £2,100 for 42 days’ work and £78 for the parts.