Investors – where are building scams most common an...

As a property investor, you are more than likely to require building work at some point – whether you are flipping property, investing for the long-term or operating as a buy-to-let to investor.

But there are unfortunately rogue operators out there who are more than willing to scam people out of their money.

Now new research from Clothes2order has revealed the areas across the UK that have fallen foul of rogue builders and scams, and has offered some top tips on how to avoid them.

Analysing figures from Citizens Advice’s ‘Consumer Advice Trends’, Wyre in the North West was revealed to be the local authority dealing with the most complaints around possible scams.

The 10 areas with the most building scam complaints are laid out in the table below:

Rank	Local Authority	Region	Number of complaints	Complaints per 100,000 people
1	Wyre	North West	206	182.2
2	Blackpool	North West	236	170.5
3	Isle of Anglesey	Wales	117	166.1
4	South Tyneside	North East	224	148.2
5	Stockport	North West	414	140.7
6	Barrow-in-Furness	North West	92	137.9
7	Conwy	Wales	161	136.2
8	Neath port-Talbot	Wales	196	135.7
9	Broxtowe	East Midlands	155	135.2
10	Bridgend	Wales	196	132.8

The regions with the most building scam complaints were:

Rank	Region	Number of cases	Cases per 100,000 people
1	Wales	3,457	109.1
2	East Midlands	4,597	94.6
3	North West	6,881	93.4
4	West Midlands	5,247	88.0
5	Yorkshire & the Humber	4,755	86.0
6	North East	2,282	85.1
7	East	5,110	81.5
8	South East	7,397	80.3
9	South West	4,518	80.0
10	London	5,355	59.5

The research found that the two areas with the highest proportion of complaints per population were both located right next to each other (Wyre and Blackpool). The North West also finds itself in the top three regions when it comes to building scam complaints.

On a regional level, Wales was found to be the region with the highest proportion of complaints at a regional level (109.1 per 100,000 people), while London had comfortably the lowest cases per 100,000 people.

How can investors avoid building scams?

Never pay in full upfront - If a builder or tradesperson asks you to pay for the full job - even a significant portion! - before starting any work, alarm bells should be ringing. One excuse commonly used by rogue traders is that they need to order tools or materials, however, suppliers will usually provide these on credit.

Note the fine print - when you agree on any work to be done on your house, make sure everything is fully transparent and clear! Making expectations clear from the start as well as making it clear that all work that is done is covered in the price will stop any extra charges down the line

Don’t book on the spot - If someone comes to your door offering a deal that seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Many rogue traders like to use the common excuse of having materials left over from a job and not wanting to make a loss. These circumstances, however, usually lead to the price of the job escalating rapidly.

You can read the full report here.