Rogue builder’s £25k penalty for botched jobs
A ROGUE builder who did two botch jobs has been ordered to pay £25,000 and received a suspended prison sentence after the faulty work.
Ahsan Ul Haq, from Halifax, was trading as Your Home Our Pride Building Services when he was contracted to carry out a loft conversion at one property and a basement conversion at another, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Ul Haq, of New Lane, Siddal, failed to finish the work he was paid for and left both homes in Ashton-under-Lyne, in Tameside, Greater Manchester, in a poor state – leaving part of the roof missing in one.
The property was left uninhabitable, with the homeowner and her family forced to move out and stay with relatives, the court heard on May 3.
Following the faulty work, he then failed to respond to requests from the victims to rectify and complete the work and left the country, in doing so breaking all contact with the victims.
After complaints made by the victims to the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline in July 2021, an investigation was carried out by Tameside Council’s Trading Standards officers, supported by the council’s Building Control team.
Ul Haq pleaded guilty on November 10 last year to two counts of the offence of knowingly engaging in an unfair commercial practice in relation to building works at the two properties between March and June 2021.
He admitted that he had contravened the requirements of professional diligence with regards to the building works, by failing to complete the contracted work paid for and carrying out the completed works to a poor standard. He also failed to submit an application and notice to Tameside Council Planning and Building Control Services for the building works, despite telling the victims that he would do so.
The court heard the actions of Mr Ul Haq have had a huge emotional and financial impact on both families, who are related to each other.
One of the families could only return to their home after 16 months due to delays in being able to get another builder to make it habitable and complete the work and the owners of the other property have so far been unable to have work on their basement conversion completed.
Ul Haq was sentenced to two consecutive eight-month suspended prison sentences and was ordered to pay £7,000 in compensation to the victims within 28 days and a further £750 each month for the next two years, totalling £25,000. Out of this amount £13,510 and £9,250 will go to the victims respectively and the remaining £2,240 towards prosecution costs.
The judge said there was no doubt that the defendant’s actions had met the threshold for a custodial sentence due to the financial and emotional harm suffered by the victims and their families. However, she said she made the decision to suspend the sentences on the basis that the defendant had shown remorse for his actions and a desire to compensate the victims as much as he can. She also took into consideration the impact that his immediate imprisonment would have on his mother and wife – the defence provided evidence that he acts as a carer for both due to illness.