New Laws to Crackdown on Cowboy Tradesmen

If you want to find a tradesman that you can trust, you now have more protection following the news that the Government is cracking down on rogue tradespeople. The new laws introduce a blanket ban on unfair trading and will help those who want to find a builder, find a carpenter or other tradesman, but who are wary of falling prey to a cowboy. Consumers are starting to wise up to this rogue element, as evidenced by the rising popularity of websites such as www.uktradestreet.com, who register recommended tradesmen.

Services such as the one offered by UKTradeStreet bring together skilled tradespeople of repute and those customers who want to find a builder, plumber, etc. who will not rip them off. The demand for these websites comes from consumers who are worried by the proliferation of rogue tradespeople and want a reliable way of finding only those labourers and handymen who are skilled and trustworthy. Approved tradesmen leave their details on the websites, as do potential customers with an outline of their projects, and both parties know that being registered on the site offers them protection.

Acknowledging that there is a growing problem with a rogue element within the largely dependable tradespeople industry (as well as with rogue traders and other aggressive salespeople), the Government has created the Consumer Protection Regulations which bring together 23 existing laws, but with increased powers to enforce them and the possibility of levying unlimited fines or even issuing prison sentences. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has stated that approximately 750,000 businesses will be affected by the new legislation.

The Government was prompted to further increase consumer protection after surveys revealed that approximately six out of ten people fear that they are likely to be treated unfairly by tradesmen in some way. It is this distrust that has led to the inception of companies such as UKTradeStreet, who recognised the need for a service where people could find recommended tradesmen in their area - tradesmen that were skilled, reliable and certified. Before services such as this existed, people who wanted to find a carpenter, for instance, would either blindly secure services from a classified ad, or else rely on a word-of-mouth recommendation.

Having a one-stop-shop service like UKTradeStreet’s means that finding an approved tradesman in any field is easy, and with the added protection that this new Government legislation affords, cowboy builders could become a thing of the past.

To see the full range of services offered by UKTradeStreet, go to http://www.uktradestreet.com