Maestro's £185,000 bill is music to the lawyers' ears

13 April 2012

As a renowned conductor, Peter Bassano is used to unfinished symphonies.

Unfinished houses, however, are another matter.

Yesterday he and his musician wife Kathy found themselves with a £185,000 legal bill after falling out with the builder extending their seven-bedroom home.

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The disagreement began when Mr Bassano, a former member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, accused builder Don Battista of overcharging him.

Mr Battista was employed in 2002 to build a two-storey extension to the Bassanos' home in Wicken, near Milton Keynes.

The couple, who have four children between five and 16, expected the job to take about five months and cost under £100,000.

A year later it was still not finished and they had handed over a grand total of £280,000.

Mr Bassano, 61, and his wife, a viola player, claim the builder overcharged them for labour and materials and carried out the work too slowly.

But when they withheld payments Mr Battista, 57, sued them for £16,000. After Milton Keynes County Court ruled in the builder's favour, the Bassanos took their case to the Appeal Court in London.

But yesterday a judge there rejected their claim - leaving them with legal bills of up to £185,000. And the extension, apparently, is still not complete.

The dispute centres on Mr Battista's charge of £125 a day for each labourer working for him.

The Bassanos claim some of the workers were paid only £60 a day and that Mr Battista pocketed the difference.

But Lord Justice Lawrence Collins, sitting with Lord Justice Tuckey and Lady Justice Arden, said the builder's 'credibility' could not be faulted.

He said the Bassanos had been 'commercially naive', pointing out that if each worker had actually been paid £125 daily, Mr Battista's profit would have been ' negligible'.

The case has taken almost four years to move through the courts.

The Bassanos are still waiting for their counter claim for £70,000 to be heard by the County Court, which could see their costs spiral even further.

'Our lives have been wrecked by this. Justice has not been done,' Mrs Bassano said yesterday.

In his ruling, Lord Justice Collins said: 'The costs incurred to date are out of all proportion to the amount at stake. If ever there was a case for mediation this was it.'

Mr Bassano is a former professor at the Royal College of Music. He traces his family back to six musical brothers brought to England from Italy by Henry VIII.

He said he was 'appalled' at yesterday's decision.

The project started under a different builder in January 2002.

He told the couple it would cost £90,000 and take five months.

But he could not complete the work and Mr Battista took over the job in July 2002.

Mrs Bassano said continuing their battle would be 'a high-risk strategy which could see our costs go even higher'.

'We don't know what we are going to do now,' she said. 'It has had an awful impact on the whole family.'

Mr Battista could not be contacted for comment.

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