- City MP welcomes new measures to crack down on rogue traders and give hard-working families more security, when completing home renovations
- A new government-supported scheme will help residents identify and hire traders with confidence, with their money protected in a trusted place until key building milestones have been hit
- New measures will also see tougher regulation of bailiffs who act aggressively, ensuring those who fall behind on a bill are treated fairly and with respect
- These announcements form part of the Prime Minister’s series of ‘everyday fixes’ to give families room to breathe, ease the cost of living and make Britain fairer
Stephen Morgan MP has welcomed new measures to give residents in Portsmouth more security when getting building works completed.
This new clampdown on cowboy builders will help to close loopholes that have let unscrupulous operators fleece local families, giving residents in Portsmouth more confidence that they are hiring trusted traders and that their money will be protected whilst building works are ongoing.
From September, the new Government-supported scheme, will deliver an Approved Code so that customers can be confident they are not hiring a rogue builder. Businesses who sign up to the Approved Code will be able to demonstrate that they meet higher standards of customer service, transparency and dispute resolution.
The scheme will also include a new system to protect people’s money during building projects with payments directly linked to key project milestones.
The city MP said these new announcements are a real win for local residents, with more than one in four UK adults who carried out home improvements work in the past 18 months reporting they had experienced problems.
Issues have ranged from projects abandoned halfway through, undue pressure on elderly people to overpay for shoddy work, or even builders disappearing on holiday and taking upfront payments with them despite little to no work being completed.
This announcement will also back the many builders across the UK who do the right thing by their customers, preventing them being undercut by rogue operators and helping residents support those playing by the rules.
With more than 1 in 3 recent home renovations facing extra costs, losing ordinary working people an average of £750 of their hard-earned cash, this announcement is another important step in this Labour Government’s plans to deliver practical everyday fixes that will restore fairness and give families more room to breathe.
Alongside this announcement, tougher regulation will also be introduced to tackle bailiffs who act aggressively, ensuring those who fall behind on a bill are treated fairly.
Private bailiffs will be held to consistent professional standards whilst those facing enforcement action will have access to an independent complaints process – strengthening the rights of the most vulnerable.
Currently, families are at times pressured into repayments that leave them unable to afford essentials of day-to-day life as they continue to repay what they owe.
Commenting, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“This will be a welcome announcement for many families across Portsmouth. After hearing the financial devastation and stress that families in my constituency have experienced at the hands of rogue builders, I’ve been pushing for more action to give local people more security.
“I’m delighted this Labour Government is now calling time on cowboy builders. This action is a really important step forward, meaning residents can now have more confidence when hiring traders, secure in the knowledge that their money will be protected whilst building works are ongoing.”
Prime Minister, Andy Burnham said:
“Cowboy builders don’t just rip people off. They leave families with months of stress, the disruption of unfinished work, and that horrible feeling of being taken advantage of. Not only that, but they give the vast majority of decent, hardworking tradespeople a bad name.
“So we’re putting the cowboys out of business. These changes mean you’ll now have the option to make sure your money is held safely and released bit by bit as the work gets done.
“It’s the latest in our series of everyday fixes to give people room to breathe and make Britain fairer. We’ve taken on subscription traps, fake discounts, and now we’re coming for the cowboy builders. Enough is enough.”
Minister responsible for consumer protection, Kate Dearden said:
“When you hand a builder thousands of pounds, you’re not just trusting them with your money. You’re trusting them with your home. Yet cowboy builders have left too many people with work half-finished, thousands of pounds down the drain and, in the worst cases, homes that aren’t safe to live in.
“Now, these new changes will make it easier to identify reputable traders and better protect people’s hard-earned money while work is being done. Your home is probably the biggest investment you’ll ever make, and you deserve to know that when you put your savings and your trust in someone, you’re properly protected.”
