A ROGUE builder from Wokingham who left a house with an unsafe roof and gas meter has been given a community order.

Kevin Carter, of Jupiter Way, trading as Haughton Green Builders, was investigated by the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) Trading Standards after he failed to properly complete a single storey extension in Hurst in 2015.

Carter had agreed to build the extension, to include a shower room, utility room and other ancillary work at the property between September 1 and December 1, 2015. He claimed to be able to complete the work within four weeks, but after three months, and having been paid a total of £29,000, the work had still not been completed.

Trading Standards found Carter’s work to be of a poor standard and was not water tight with a risk of the roof collapsing. The gas meter was condemned after being moved leaving the complainants with a gas leak.
A Chartered Building Surveyor advised the complainants it would be more cost effective to take down the extension and start again than to try to repair the problems.

Mr Carter pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly or recklessly engaging in a commercial practice that contravened the requirements of professional diligence contrary to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 when he appeared at Reading Crown Court on March 8.

Mr Carter was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work, this being increased from 80 hours because he was in breach of a contract he had signed with Bracknell Forest Trading Standards binding him to comply with relevant legislative requirements.

Steve Loudoun, Chairman of the Public Protection Management Board, a shared service between Wokingham, Bracknell and West Berkshire Councils, said: “The Public Protection Partnership will always investigate such complaints by the public and legal action will follow where appropriate. This kind of offending that leaves people with unsafe property and out of pocket is completely unacceptable.”