Builder found guilty of “reckless” work to a home

A Tameside builder has been ordered to pay over £41,000 after carrying out a dormer extension and remodel of a home which could not be passed by building control.

Tameside Council Trading Standards carried out a full investigation after receiving a complaint from a Dukinfield resident about Nathan Anderson trading as NLA Construction in July 2023.

Mr Anderson, of Armadale Road, Dukinfield, was summoned to court and the matter was heard at Manchester Magistrates Court on 18 June 2025.

The court heard Mr Anderson had given the impression that the building work had been passed by building control when it had not. Magistrates were also told he had carried out the building work to a standard which fell below the standard of special skill and care which a trader may reasonably be expected to exercise.

Mr Anderson was found guilty, in his absence, of three offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and sentenced to a £5,000 fine, costs of £1,940 and he was ordered to pay compensation to the home owner of £35,000 to enable them to get the building work rectified.

The chair of the bench at Manchester Magistrates’ Court said in his summing up: ‘There is no doubt that the work conducted by Mr Anderson did not meet building regulations. He did not have the skill set for the project and worked recklessly. He provided false information regarding the building control approval.”

Tameside Council Executive Member for Environment Services and Neighbourhood Cllr Laura Boyle said: “This is a great result from court after an excellent investigation by our trading standards team, who work tirelessly to protect local residents and support businesses that comply with the law.

“In this particular case the homeowner had invested thousands of pounds on work to improve their home only to discover the work did not meet standards and that they had also been lied to – it must have been devastating. I’m glad our trading standards team was able to support them by investigating further and taking the case to court to hold the builder to account and also to ensure the homeowner could be compensated for their losses.”

In 2024 Tameside Trading Standards team worked on 14 prosecutions, investigated 101 scams and 19 under age sales and seized 7953 illegal e-cigarettes, over 200,000 illegal cigarettes and over 43kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco. They also carried out 153 food standards inspections, actioned 591 requests for service and completed 71 Buy With Confidence checks.

For further information see www.tameside.gov.uk/tradingstandards