Halton Borough Council’s Trading Standards Service has successfully prosecuted rogue builder, Mark Brown.
Brown, 36, of Kingshead Close, Castlefields, Runcorn, was sentenced at Warrington Magistrates Court on 3rd August to 24 weeks, suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. Brown was also required to pay £7,240.50 victim compensation.
Trading as Topmarkk Building Solution during 2021 and 2022, Brown carried out work at two Halton residents’ homes, which was poor quality, incomplete and left the consumers significantly out of pocket.
He stated to both consumers that they did not require Building Control sign-off for the extensions they wished to have built, even though they did require it. Subsequently, when challenged about this, he went as far as producing a fake Building Completion Certificate stating the work he carried out was in accordance with the requirements of the Building Regulations, when in fact it was not.
Brown pleaded guilty to multiple breaches of Consumer Protection legislation and a breach of the Fraud Act for making and/or supplying the fake Building Completion Certificate.
When Halton Borough Council’s Building Control officers subsequently inspected Brown’s work, it was found to be substandard and significant rework was required to be carried out.
Due to Brown wrongly advising the consumers that they did not require Building Control sign off, this put the consumers at risk of their new extensions having to be significantly modified or even demolished. Furthermore, it left them unable to insure their properties and it would have also hindered them if they tried to sell their properties in the future.
Brown tried to avoid the scrutiny of Building Control, which allowed him to build non-compliant extensions, use inferior or incorrect materials and thus reduce both his time and costs he spent on the extensions. His behaviour undermined Building Control, the legislation in place to protect consumers from poor quality building works and was anti-competitive, as legitimate builders would not be able to price or complete jobs in the same manner.
The magistrates concluded in their judgement that they were particularly concerned with the ‘stress’ and ‘anxiety’ caused to the victims and that the offending had a ‘high impact’ on them.