Case 1
Trading Standards required a survey to be conducted at a small, detached two bedroom bungalow, after ‘contractors’ charged an elderly man £33,000 for unnecessary and unsatisfactory roofing works.
De Vos Consultancy Ltd undertook the survey and established that the roof repairs consisted of taking down a small chimney stack, re-bedding a few hip tiles, re-rendering the base of a remaining chimney, and making some alterations to the roof timbers. These mainly of bolting additional timbers to the existing rafters, which far from lending support, purely served to add weight to the structure itself…and the use of a hydraulic jack and a scissor jack, neither of which had a place, nor served a purpose within the roof void!
The ‘contractor’ was subsequently charged with fraud by false representation and received a custodial sentence.
Case 2
De Vos Consultancy Ltd was instructed by Bromley Trading Standards and the Police to undertake a survey of a semi-detached property, owned by a vulnerable elderly man, which had been taken over by a ‘contractor’, who undertook DIY standard refurbishment works whilst persuading the elderly owner to sign the deeds of the house into their ownership.
The case which was first instructed in 2014, finally came to trial in 2016, with De Vos Consultancy Ltd providing expert witness services to develop an agreed schedule of works undertaken with the expert witness acting for the Defence.
The prosecution was successful, with the main Defendant receiving a custodial sentence of 5 years.
