If you have agreed a date for completion of building works, or been given an indication of a date, and the work has not been completed by your builder, you can use this document to create a complaint letter. This document can also be used if you have not been given an indication of a completion date, but a reasonable period has passed without the work being completed. The letter makes time an essence of the contract, meaning that if your builder does not complete the work by the time specified, you can terminate the contract.

Use this document after you have sent our "Letter enclosing estimates to fix faulty building work". This letter will demand that your original builder pay the costs of the new builder you have employed to fix faulty building work. The letter warns your original builder that you will be forced to recover your costs in court if they do not pay these costs. Please note that this document can only be used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Use this document after you have sent our ‘Letter enclosing estimates to complete building work’ and your new builder has completed the outstanding work. If the cost of employing your new builder is more than what you have paid your original builder, the letter will demand payment of that sum. If the cost of having the new builder complete the work is less then the amount which you have paid the original builder, the letter will not demand any money from your builder, but will state that your contract has come to an end.

If you have terminated your builder's contract using our ‘Letter terminating contract for failure to complete outstanding building work’, you can then use this letter to enclose the estimates you have received from a new builder to complete the work left outstanding by your original builder. Your builder might respond by offering to complete the work, by challenging the reasonableness of the estimates or by offering to settle your claim. If you do employ a new builder to complete the work, you can then use our "Demand original builder pay costs of new builder" letter.

If you have sent a letter requesting your builder to fix faulty building work, have received no response and need to employ a new builder to fix the work, you can use this letter to send the estimates that you have received from any new builders to the original builder. The letter warns your original builder that you will be seeking reimbursement of these costs within due course. When your new builder completes the work, you can then use our document "Demand original builder pay costs of new builder".

Use this letter to terminate the contract with your builder and to advise him/her that you will be employing another builder to complete the work. Before using this document, you should have sent our "Complaint about delays in builder work" letter in which you gave a final date of when building work must be completed. After sending this letter, you can use our "Letter enclosing estimates from new builder" when you obtain estimates from prospective new builders to complete the work outstanding.

If you have instructed a builder to carry out work for you, and the final invoice has exceeded the quotation or estimate, you can use this letter to reject your builder's bill. An estimate may be slightly higher or lower than the final charge made – a quotation should be exact, irrespective of whether the builder has done more or less work. If you did not agree a quote or estimate before beginning building work, and the builder's bill was unreasonable for the work involved, you can use this document as well.

If you or your builders need to go on to your neighbour's land to carry out necessary repair works on your property, you can use this letter to request access. If your neighbour refuses consent, you might be able to obtain a county court order allowing you such access as long as the work is considered to be 'reasonably necessary' for the preservation of your property. It is important, however, that you first send a written request for consent directly to your neighbour. Please note that this document can only be used in England & Wales and cannot be used for any work relating to a party wall.

If you have employed a builder whose work was faulty, use this letter to request the builder to put right the faults. This must be done free of charge. The letter allows you to specify what you would consider to be a reasonable amount of time to complete the work involved and warns the builder that you will employ another builder and recover the costs if the builder does not complete the work.