𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A estimated quarter of homeowners had problems with their most recent repair jobs, a survey for Citizens Advice suggests.

Some 4.8 million households dealt with issues ranging from living with unfinished or unsafe work to dealing with stressful disputes with traders over the last 18 months alone, the charity found.

Around 1.7 million homeowners had to pay to fix earlier work, or were overcharged, and they lost on average £750, the poll found.

Some 10% face extra costs stretching to more than £5,000.

Of those who have experienced an issue with a trader or work on their home, more than a third of homeowners (37%) said it made them feel stressed, while 12% said it made them feel unsafe.

Citizens Advice said home repairs generated almost 37,000 complaints to its consumer service last year.

It said growing distrust in the market was having “real consequences” for consumers and taking business away from trustworthy traders.

Among those who experienced problems with home repairs, the most commonly cited issues related to energy efficiency improvements, room renovations and installations, and external walls and roofing projects.

Some 82% of those who took action after experiencing an issue with a trader said they faced barriers to trying to resolve it.

One in five (20%) said the process took a long time, 16% said the trader ignored them and 15% said they did not know how to escalate the issue beyond the trader.

Currently, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in the sector is voluntary and requires traders to opt in, limiting routes for consumers to resolve disputes.

Some 28% of those who arranged home repairs in the last 18 months carried out work themselves because they did not think they could find a trustworthy trader, and 26% delayed or avoided repairs altogether for the same reason.

However Citizens Advice found that making more checks before hiring a trader did not protect consumers from experiencing problems, and warned that better consumer information alone could not fix deeper issues in the market.

Just over a third of people (36%) who used a trader in the last 18 months found them through someone they knew, while 20% who used an approved or accredited trader said it was difficult to verify their credentials.

Citizens Advice is calling on the Government to urgently review how the home repairs sector is regulated, including introducing mandatory licensing and widening access to redress.

Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said: “Too many people are being let down in their own homes by traders turning routine repairs into stressful ordeals when things go wrong.

“Consumers aren’t just facing minor issues – they’re losing significant sums of money, living with unfinished or unsafe work and are being left to fend for themselves to get problems resolved.

“When homeowners can’t trust a market where millions are spent every year, it damages confidence across the industry, while also making it harder for trustworthy traders to compete and thrive.

“Stronger consumer protections are needed, including a single register for traders and a clearer mandatory route to resolve disputes, raising standards across the industry as a whole.”

Opinium surveyed 5,000 UK adults responsible for repairs and improvements in their home between February 13 and March 4.