People living in Oxford have been hit hard by rouge traders, new research has shown.  

The research was carried out by Checkatrade and has revealed the UK’s rogue trade hotspots.

It found residents from Newcastle, Belfast and London fall victim the most to rouge traders.

Financially, respondents from Oxford were hardest hit - experiencing a loss of £4,990 on average.

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Checkatrade CEO, Mike Fairman, said: “As household finances continue to be stretched, it’s more important than ever to do due diligence before parting with your hard-earned cash when hiring a trade.

“As many as a fifth of homeowners are still not reading online reviews before they hire a trade leaving them exposed to being targeted by a rogue trade.

“And while rogue trades can be found everywhere, my advice is to be wary of high availability, be careful of cheap quotes, beware of being asked for full payment up front, never accept work from trades who doorstep and always source a minimum of three competitive quotes.”

Oxford Mail:

The research shows more than a third (37 per cent) of homeowners have endured a rogue tradesperson at some point, including 31 per cent in Newcastle, 23 per cent in Belfast and 23 per cent in London.

However, almost half the amount have experienced this in Glasgow (11 per cent), Cardiff (15 per cent) and Norwich (16 per cent).

The most prevalent sectors where consumers are being left with disappointing work are plumbing (20 per cent), closely followed by bathroom installation (18 per cent), painting/decorating (18 per cent) and kitchen fitting (16 per cent).

A fifth of the 2,880 homeowners polled have experienced a financial loss due to disappointing work carried out by a rogue trader.

Alongside this, seven in 10 have had to fork out additional money to finish off or fix disappointing work.

When it comes to being quoted for a job, 60 per cent said they do not know how much things are supposed to cost and, as a result, are unaware if they are being ripped off.

Those from Coventry admit to being most in the dark (72 per cent), followed by homeowners from Cardiff (71 per cent) and London (50 per cent).

The study also found 24 per cent of homeowners have booked a trade without sourcing references and 22 per cent have skipped any due diligence or background checks altogether.

Top 10 cities where people have fallen foul of rouge traders:

1. Newcastle
2. Belfast
3. London
4. Coventry
5. Portsmouth
6. Chelmsford
7. Liverpool
8. Southampton
9. Brighton and Hove
10. Norwich

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This story was written by Sophie Perry, she joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.

You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry

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