An estimated quarter of UK homeowners experienced problems with their most recent home repair jobs, according to a survey by Citizens Advice. The charity reported that 4.8 million households encountered issues ranging from unfinished or unsafe work to stressful disputes with traders over the past 18 months alone.
Financial impact and emotional toll
Around 1.7 million homeowners had to pay to fix earlier work or were overcharged, losing an average of £750. Some 10% faced extra costs exceeding £5,000. Of those who experienced issues, more than a third (37%) said it made them feel stressed, while 12% felt unsafe.
Complaints and market distrust
Home repairs generated almost 37,000 complaints to Citizens Advice's consumer service last year. The charity said growing distrust in the market had “real consequences” for consumers and took business away from trustworthy traders. Among those with problems, the most common issues related to energy efficiency improvements, room renovations, installations, and external walls and roofing projects.
Barriers to resolution
Some 82% of those who took action after experiencing a problem said they faced barriers to resolving it. One in five (20%) said the process took a long time, 16% said the trader ignored them, and 15% did not know how to escalate the issue. Currently, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in the sector is voluntary, requiring traders to opt in, limiting consumer routes for dispute resolution.
Consumer behavior and calls for reform
Some 28% of those who arranged home repairs in the last 18 months did the work themselves because they could not find a trustworthy trader, and 26% delayed or avoided repairs for the same reason. However, Citizens Advice found that making more checks before hiring a trader did not protect consumers from problems, warning that better information alone could not fix deeper market issues. Just over a third (36%) of those who used a trader found them through someone they knew, while 20% who used an approved or accredited trader said it was difficult to verify credentials.
Citizens Advice is calling on the Government to urgently review regulation of the home repairs sector, including introducing mandatory licensing and widening access to redress. 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.”
The survey was conducted by Opinium among 5,000 UK adults responsible for repairs and improvements in their home between February 13 and March 4.
