Paid the deposit. Contractor vanished. The law was on your side before they even started.
Home improvement contracts carry mandatory statutory terms, deposits must be escrowed or bonded, and licensing regimes add leverage on top. A contractor holding your money for work not performed answers in restitution.
Flat fee $499, signed by a licensed New York attorney, draft within 48 hours, mailed on your approval.
Reviewed by Daniel Hochman, Esq. · Last updated November 1, 2026
If you paid a deposit and the contractor walked off the job, New York law entitles you to restitution for the work never performed. A home improvement contract must be in writing with the scope, approximate dates and a payment schedule (GBL § 771), and advance payments must sit in escrow or be covered by a bond or letter of credit (Lien Law § 71-a(4)). A missing contract counts against the contractor.
This letter is for money paid and work not performed or abandoned. Disputes about the QUALITY of completed work are expert-and-inspection territory and are screened to consultation, and the intake will tell you before you pay, as the terms describe. Background reading from the firm: a contractor who took your money.
The written contract mandate
Home improvement contracts must be in writing with scope, approximate dates, and a payment schedule. Their absence is the contractor's violation, never your problem.
GBL § 771
Your deposit was protected money
Advance payments must be deposited in escrow or covered by bond or letter of credit; a spent deposit for unperformed work is the letter's centerpiece.
Lien Law § 71-a(4)
Licensing leverage
Unlicensed home improvement work in NYC and licensing counties forfeits the contractor's own right to enforce payment and supports a DCWP complaint. The letter checks the license and says what it finds.
Questions before you start
What if there's no written contract at all?
That itself is the contractor's statutory violation, and your payments are proven by bank records and messages. The letter uses both.
What if the contractor did some of the work?
The demand computes restitution for the unperformed balance. If the real dispute is workmanship on finished work, this product will screen you out honestly and point you to the right path.
Statutes cited on this page
General Business Law § 771 (General Business Law)
Lien Law § 71-a(4) (Lien Law)
Each link opens the official text at the New York State Senate's Open Legislation site (federal sections: Cornell Law School's U.S. Code).