Hired an Unlicensed Contractor in California - Can I Get ALL My Money Back? (B&P 7031)

I hired a contractor to remodel my kitchen in Riverside County. Paid him $15,000 total - $5K deposit upfront, then $10K as work progressed. He finished about 80% of the job but the work quality is honestly pretty decent.

Here's the thing - I just found out he's NOT LICENSED. I was looking up his info to leave a review and discovered his license expired 2 years ago. He never mentioned this and his business cards still show a license number.

My neighbor is a paralegal and mentioned something called "B&P 7031" that supposedly lets me get ALL my money back even if the work was done properly. Is this real? Can I actually sue an unlicensed contractor and get a full refund in California?

What about the fact that he did complete most of the work? Does that matter?

Good points from @anon_question_2025_11. Let me add some important information about exceptions and potential defenses, because contractors and their attorneys will try these:

Defenses that DON'T work under B&P 7031:

• "I did good work" - Not a defense
• "The homeowner knew I was unlicensed" - Generally not a defense
• "I was only unlicensed for part of the project" - Must be licensed for ENTIRE duration
• "The project was under $500" - Threshold is actually very low and rarely applies to real construction
• "I'm a handyman" - Handyman exemption only applies to jobs under $500 total including labor AND materials

The ONE defense that might work - "Substantial Compliance":

Under B&P 7031(e), a contractor MAY be able to offset the disgorgement IF they can prove ALL of the following:

1. They were licensed at some point during the project
2. They acted reasonably and in good faith believing they were licensed
3. The failure to maintain license was not willful
4. The customer would be unjustly enriched if no offset allowed

This is a VERY high bar. In your case, OP, where the license expired 2 YEARS ago and he's still using the license number on business cards, this defense will almost certainly fail. That looks willful.

One more thing: File a complaint with CSLB as well. They take unlicensed contracting seriously and can pursue criminal charges, which gives you leverage in settlement negotiations.

UPDATE: Wanted to follow up because this thread was incredibly helpful.

I verified on CSLB - his license expired January 2023 and was never renewed. He started my project in September 2023. I printed everything and sent the demand letter using the template @what_do_i_do_now_11 linked.

Within a week of receiving the letter, he called me PANICKING. He said he "didn't realize" his license had lapsed (yeah right - 2 years?). He offered to return $8,000 which I rejected.

Long story short: after I mentioned I was filing with CSLB and small claims, he agreed to return the full $15,000 in two payments. Got a cashier's check for $10K already, second one due in 2 weeks.

This law is incredible. I felt so helpless when I discovered this and now I'm getting everything back. Thank you all so much for the detailed explanations. For anyone else in this situation - B&P 7031 is absolutely real and it works.

Now I just need to find a LICENSED contractor to finish the last 20% of my kitchen...