Built To Fail – Homeowners Losing £Millions To Dodgy Traders
Routine home improvements and repairs are turning into nightmares, with 4.8 million homeowners reporting problems with their most recent job according to new research by Citizens Advice.
From living with unfinished or unsafe work to dealing with stressful disputes with traders, the charity has revealed those homeowners faced a problem in just the last 18 months. Complaints and disputes in the repair, maintain, improve sector (RMI) remains one of the top issues referred to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service.
Around 1.7 million homeowners had to fork out more money to fix earlier work or were overcharged. They each lost on average £750. For one in ten, the extra costs soared to over a staggering £5,000.
Beyond just finances
Of those who have experienced an issue with a trader or work on their home, more than a third (37%) of homeowners said it made them feel stressed while just over one in 10 (12%) said it made them feel unsafe.
Loss of trust
Home RMI generated almost 37,000 complaints in 2025. The charity says growing distrust in the market is having real consequences for consumers and taking business away from trustworthy traders.
Around three in ten (28%) people who had arranged home repairs in the last 18 months carried out work themselves because they didn’t think they could find a trustworthy trader. While more than a quarter (26%) delayed or avoided repairs altogether for the same reason.
Research not offering protection
Citizens Advice found that doing more checks before hiring a trader did not protect consumers from experiencing problems, highlighting that better consumer information alone cannot fix deeper issues in the market.
The charity says a low level of trust in the market is shaping how people find traders, with many relying on informal recommendations rather than formal systems, such as government backed schemes – FENSA and Certsass, for example.
Just over a third (36%) of people who used a trader in the last 18 months found them through someone they know, while one in five (20%) who used an approved or accredited trader said it was difficult to verify their credentials.
A clearer route to justice
Citizens Advice says consumers are being left to fend for themselves in a home repairs market with little effective oversight. Many face a maze of complaints processes and dead ends and struggle to get responses, refunds or accountability when things go wrong.
The charity says it has helped people who have faced spiralling costs, poor-quality workmanship and significant delays after hiring traders for home repairs. In some cases, consumers have been charged thousands of pounds more than expected, left with unfinished or unsafe work or struggled to get traders to return and put problems right. Others have faced persistent demands for payment despite disputes over the quality of work carried out.
Common problems
Among those who experienced problems, the most commonly cited issues related to energy efficiency improvements, room renovations and installations and external walls and roofing projects.
Of people who took action after experiencing an issue with a trader, Citizens Advice found 82% said they faced barriers 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 didn’t 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.
To restore confidence in the market, 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. The charity believes a single register for traders would help raise standards across the market and better protect homeowners.
Ordeals
Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Too many people are being let down in their own homes by traders turning routine repairs and improvements 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.”
Picture: With thanks to FENSA which supports window installers in not only inspections and dispute resolution but also in obtaining and maintaining Mandatory Technical Competence. See FENSA’s latest guidance on the topic on this link www.installationeye.com/article/raising-the-skills-bar
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