Legal Help Needed w/ hosting issue & project non-payment

Let me preface this post by saying this situation is void of ALL contracts. In other words everything I am about to describe never involved a written contract.

I developed and host a website for a client in Austria who owns a very reputable hotel outside Salzburg. The owner of this hotel is a part owner of a villa in the Bahamas. He and his partner hired to me to a second website for the villa in the Bahamas. I agreed to do so and did a very nice site for them. The payment is now due for the Bahamas website (they gave me a 1/3 down payment originally) and I am having a hard time getting paid for the site. They expected near overnight rankings in Google which more times than not does not happen. They are ranking on top for multiple keywords in MSN.

So what I need help with is this. They sent me an email last week that they wanted to move their Austria hotel website off my server. I saw this as an opportunity to leverage getting paid for my efforts on the Bahamas website. I changed the ftp password on the Austria site and informed them that when I get payment in full for the Bahamas site I would release the Austria site.

They tell me this is not legal. As the entire situation is without a single contract what is legal or not legal. I verbally tell all my clients that it is there responsiblity to have back up copies of their websites. Prior to this situation they have had every oppty. to do the same but failed to do so. I am of the impression that if I release the Austria site they will walk...

Here is what my client wrote me:

What do you want us to tell you? This is a legal matter really, and you should contact a lawyer for accurate advice.

IMO, the client is correct on the Austria site. Even if they weren't separate business entities, you would run afoul of some laws if you withdrew your part of a valid deal without compensation. The Austria site has been paid for, right, so a legal argument could be made in favor of the client.

The issue here really is just the Bahamas site. You develop a site, the client doesn't deliver the money. It happens to freelancer programmers all the time, and the solution is to use services like escrow accounts. Of course since the site isn't being paid for, you can withdraw hosting and support. But your work and time has been wasted, as of now.

The issue is that there are no written contracts. Did you orally agree on what would happen on failure of payment? Do you get to keep the downpayment? We aren't laywers, and some of us have been in the situation you have. So I'll reiterate my above advice: if the monies involved are large enough, get yourself a lawyer.

If they're gonna walk, they're gonna walk.

If you still host the Bahamas site, consider a holding page for now.


inadmissable to what??? a territory of illegal business behavior???

Is english this persons first language, the legal parlance described above looks like a postal course on Perry Mason. I highly doubt any lawyer saw that, or would agree to put their name to it.

Again IANAL, but by the looks of it neither's your opposition.

It all very much depends on what we're talking here? Is it going to cost him money to call a lawyer to initiate proceedings, if so how much, and compare that to how much is at risk.

Just give him a call, and state your case in full, and look at the cost/benefit argument.

Who owns the domains involved? Are they locked?

Thanks for all of your input. The domains are in my possession and yes they are locked. The amount of money we are talking about is only $2,700 USD so it is not a large sum - relatively speaking of course. Keep in mind that I have and will keep the hotel website online and available for full uninterrupted use. I gave them a due date on the invoice (the 15th of this month) and if not paid I will disable the Bahamas website but keep the hotel website up. I apogize for thinking I might get legal advice here so please forgive me. In short I don't think that they are going to drag me to court, albeit in Austria or America for $2,700 dollars - but we'll see. Thanks again.