A builder from Belfast has been sentenced to 100 hours community service at Belfast's Laganside Magistrates' Court for failing to complete work to a professional standard.

He was also ordered to pay a total of £2,000 in compensation.

The case was brought by the Trading Standards Service (TSS) of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.

The builder, Peter Hales (56), trading as 858 Building Services of Parklands, Belfast, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

The case was the result of an investigation by the TSS into complaints from two consumers who had engaged Mr Hales to build extensions to their properties in Belfast and Coagh, Co Tyrone. Mr Hales failed to carry out the building work to a professional standard.

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The first complainant had plans drawn up and approved by Building Control which he provided to Mr Hales. Mr Hales replaced a block wall with a stud wall without checking the structural soundness of this with the structural engineer or building control.

Mr Hales also failed to stick to the agreed work and payment schedule. Eventually, the complainant was left with no option but to pay another builder to rectify and finish Mr Hales' work.

The second complainant paid Mr Hales £25,500 for building a two storey extension at his home. Mr Hales obtained large advances for the work, which he carried out to a poor standard and then he removed himself from the job entirely, leaving the home in such disarray to the point that the complainant and his family have been left with no option but to live in rented accommodation.

An independent report estimated that only approximately £15,000 worth of work had been completed by Mr Hales suggesting that he had, therefore, received a sum of over £10,000 for work that was not carried out.

(CD/JP)