Citizens Advice report finds quarter of homeowners had repair issues costing average 750 pounds
A Citizens Advice report reveals that a quarter of homeowners experienced problems with repairs, costing an average of 750 pounds to fix, highlighting ongoing housing maintenance challenges.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
A new report from Citizens Advice has found that a quarter of homeowners in the UK experienced problems with their most recent home repairs, with the average cost of fixing botched work reaching £750. The charity says nearly two million people had to pay extra to correct shoddy jobs, sometimes running into thousands of pounds. It is now calling for tighter regulation of traders to protect consumers.
The findings come as many households face a cost of living crisis, making unexpected repair bills even harder to bear. Citizens Advice recorded 37,000 complaints related to home repairs in the last year alone, highlighting the scale of the problem.
One family in Leeds told ITV News they were left trapped after a builder stopped work on their cellar conversion, leaving the property structurally unsupported. The homeowner, Ryan, said the stress was immense, especially with a pregnant wife and a young child. The family now faces an additional £30,000 to fix the damage.
The report has prompted calls for stronger consumer protections, with Citizens Advice urging the government to introduce mandatory licensing for tradespeople. The charity argues that too many homeowners are left with no recourse when work goes wrong, and that the current system relies too heavily on reputation and guesswork.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 5 | ITV |
|---|---|---|
| A quarter of homeowners reported issues with their most recent home repairs. | ||
| Citizens Advice received 37,000 complaints related to home repairs in the last year. | · | |
| Citizens Advice wants more regulation of traders. | · | |
| Fixing botched work cost homeowners an average of £750. | · | |
| Nearly two million homeowners had to pay more to fix the problem. | · |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
This channel gave a brief, factual summary of the Citizens Advice report, focusing on the headline statistics and the call for more regulation. It did not include a case study or personal stories, instead treating the story as one of several news items in a lunchtime bulletin. The tone was neutral and concise.
- “Citizens advice has found a quarter of homeowners had an issue with their latest jobs.”
- “Nearly two million had to fork out more money to fix the problem, sometimes costing thousands.”
ITV1 took a more in-depth, human-interest approach, leading with a detailed case study of a family in Leeds whose botched cellar conversion left them with a £30,000 repair bill. The report emphasised the emotional and financial toll, and connected the issue to the cost of living crisis. It also provided the specific number of complaints (37,000) and the average cost (£750), giving a fuller picture of the problem.
- “New research from Citizens Advice has found that a quarter of homeowners have had issues with most recent repairs on their property.”
- “it's gonna cost around another 30,000 pounds to get all of this fixed.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.