Britain’s biggest rogue trade hotspots revealed

THE UK’s rogue trade hotspots have been revealed – with residents from Newcastle, Belfast and London falling victim the most.

More than a third (37%) of homeowners have endured a rogue tradesperson at some point, including 31% in Newcastle, 23% in Belfast and 23% in London.

Consumers are warned to look out for cheap quotes before parting with their cashCredit: Getty

Checkatrade lifts the lid on the biggest rogue trade culprits up and down the UK

But almost half the amount have experienced this in Glasgow (11%), Cardiff (15%) and Norwich (16%).

Plumbing (20%) closely followed by bathroom installation (18%), painting/decorating (18%) and kitchen fitting (16%) are the most prevalent sectors where consumers are being left with disappointing work.

A fifth of the 2,880 homeowners polled have experienced a financial loss due to disappointing work carried out by a rogue trader.

And seven in 10 have had to fork out additional money to finish off or fix disappointing work.

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Financially, respondents from Oxford have been hardest hit – experiencing a loss of £4,990 on average.

The research was carried out by Checkatrade, whose CEO Mike Fairman, said: “As household finances continue to be stretched, it’s more important than ever to do due diligence before parting with your hard-earned cash when hiring a trade.

“As many as a fifth of homeowners are still not reading online reviews before they hire a trade leaving them exposed to being targeted by a rogue trade.

“And while rogue trades can be found everywhere, my advice is to be wary of high availability, be careful of cheap quotes, beware of being asked for full payment up front, never accept work from trades who doorstep and always source a minimum of three competitive quotes.”

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When it comes to being quoted for a job, 60% said they do not know how much things are supposed to cost and, as a result, are unaware if they are being ripped off.

Those from Coventry admit to being most in the dark (72%) followed by homeowners from Cardiff (71%) and London (50%).

However, 22% of all adults remain confident they have a steer on the market, with people from Sheffield the savviest (33%).

The study also found 24% of homeowners have booked a trade without sourcing references and 22% have skipped any due diligence or background checks altogether.

A further one in four of those polled via OnePoll also failed to source multiple quotes prior to work being completed.

With the risks being undertaken by homeowners, it has left them exposed to rogue trades with those who experienced disappointing work claiming it has left them feeling stressed.

While one in 10 also said the experience negatively impacted their mental health.

Mike added: “We’re committed to stamping out rogue tradespeople and have removed 1,595 trades from our platform last year alone for not passing our stringent checks.

“We are also providing further protection via a new guarantee whereby jobs booked via Checkatrade will be covered for 12 months by up to £1,000, providing additional peace of mind when booking your next job.’’