Property owners have been charged thousands of pounds for roof work that Citizens Advice reported was left half-done, carried out to a poor standard, or was not warranted to begin with — performed by traders who misrepresented themselves as qualified tradespeople. Roofing-related fraud accounted for one in every ten cases logged by the consumer advice charity over a twelve-month period, placing it at the top of all scam categories the organisation handled.
Those affected can face financial losses running to thousands of pounds. Among them was Crystal, a 68-year-old living in the Midlands, whose roof was left with dislodged bricks and blocked gutters by a rogue builder. She subsequently reported difficulty sleeping and a heightened sense of unease at home.
After paying £5,500 for roof work, Crystal found the job unfinished. The original contractor had sent his son in his place, leaving the eaves incomplete, and when heavy rain arrived a fortnight later, water ran down the interior wall.
A woman living next door reported to a news outlet that thieves had stripped lead from her neighbour's section of the chimney, causing bricks to fall into his attic and rainwater to enter the house, and that the experience had left her unable to sleep at night.
During the twelve months ending in August, around 9,000 complaints about roofing work — covering construction faults, repair failures, and weatherproofing deficiencies — were logged with the Citizens Advice Consumer Service. Roughly one in every four of those complaints, 2,205 in total, pointed to suspected scams, a figure that edged up from the 2,098 recorded twelve months earlier.
Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty called on consumers to vet traders carefully before any hiring agreement is reached, noting that fraudsters take advantage of roofs being both hidden from view and physically inaccessible, leaving most householders unable to assess the quality of work carried out on their behalf. Around three in four of those carrying out the fraud approached people at their front doors, with those targeted also describing pressure and intimidation during these encounters.
One case drawn upon by Citizens Advice involved Charlotte, a 65-year-old living alone in the north-east of England. Three tradespeople, each located through an online search, quoted the cost of fixing a broken gutter at £250. Within roughly an hour of starting the work, the two announced they had finished — only to present her with word of a further problem they said had come to light, pushing the revised quote to £2,500.
Charlotte described paying £3,500 after concluding that those involved were aware of her solitary situation and that she lacked the capacity to manage whatever consequences might follow. The following day, no evidence of any work having taken place was apparent to her.
Citizens Advice set out a series of steps it said householders could take to protect themselves from roofing fraud, including requesting written contracts and verifiable references before any work begins, treating unsolicited doorstep approaches with caution, and documenting problems through photographs while retaining receipts if a trader proves unreliable. The charity noted that traders are legally required to provide cancellation rights in writing, and that where workmanship falls short of a reasonable standard, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives householders the option of seeking a remedy or a refund.
Lord Bichard, chair of National Trading Standards, stated that those carrying out roofing fraud act with deliberate intent against people in their own homes, and that Trading Standards would pursue such cases through available legal channels. He noted that victims can lose substantial savings within hours and face lasting financial and emotional consequences well after the offenders have moved on.
