A builder got four years and an electrician a suspended term after a £128,000 Potters Bar extension and loft job left a family with unsafe wiring and defects.

A builder has been jailed for four years and an electrician given a suspended sentence after a £128,000 extension and loft conversion in Potters Bar left a family living in a home with unsafe electrics, defective insulation and inadequate fire protection.

Sai Manideep Chadaram, 28, of Talbot Avenue, Slough, and Razvan Andrei Hlihor, 31, of Burton Road, Uxbridge, were sentenced at St Albans Crown Court on Friday 16 October, Hertfordshire County Council said in its announcement. Both had admitted offences including fraud and unfair commercial practices, brought by the county’s Trading Standards service, which covers Stevenage households as well.

Chadaram was sentenced to four years’ immediate imprisonment. Hlihor received 20 months’ imprisonment suspended for three years and 280 hours of unpaid work, and was ordered to pay £5,000 compensation to the homeowner and £4,000 towards the prosecution’s costs.

A six-month job that went wrong quickly

In 2023 the homeowner agreed a contract with Chadaram for a single storey extension, a loft conversion and refurbishment work, at a total of about £128,000. The council says the project was expected to take up to six months, but concerns about the quality and safety of the work emerged quickly.

Trading Standards opened an investigation after the resident complained. Its officers found multiple breaches of the building regulations, an Electrical Installation Certificate forged by Hlihor, and that Chadaram had traded under a false business name, presenting himself as a limited company when he was not.

Independent experts brought in during the investigation found defects throughout the house: unsafe electrics, widespread problems with the insulation, missing fixings on the steelwork and inadequate fire protection. Significant remedial work is needed, the council said.

“Three years on, we still cannot escape it”

In a victim impact statement, the homeowner told the court:

“The harm the defendants’ work has caused my family has been serious and long-lasting, and three years on, we still cannot escape it. I trusted these traders with my life savings, my hard-earned career stability, and my children’s future. In return, their negligence has trapped us in a structurally compromised, physically hazardous environment that actively threatens our safety every single day.”

Passing sentence, HHJ Siddique told Chadaram he had tried to win the homeowner over by presenting himself as part of an impressive, professional building company, and that this was “a pack of lies”. The judge called Hlihor dishonest, saying he “must also have been fully aware of the risk that is created, the risk to life, that is created when an electrician forges documents like this.”

The judge added that he was “pleased to see that an excellent and thorough investigation commenced from the Council. I commend the Council for their work in this case”.

Councillor Ajanta Hilton, the county council’s Executive Member for Public Health and Community Safety, said:

“Residents should be able to engage builders and tradespeople with confidence. This prosecution demonstrates that Hertfordshire Trading Standards will pursue individuals who seek to profit through deception and who fail to meet the standards consumers are entitled to expect. We hope this outcome provides a warning to rogue traders and reassurance to residents that action will be taken when offences are identified.”

What they admitted

Chadaram pleaded guilty to offences including fraud by false representation, misleading commercial practices under consumer protection law, and fraud relating to claims about electrical certification. His four-year term is made up of concurrent sentences: four years and 20 months on the two main fraud charges, and 14 months on each of three charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.

Hlihor pleaded guilty to supplying an article for use in fraud, namely the false Electrical Installation Certificate.

Before you sign up for building work

This is the second Hertfordshire Trading Standards case in a week: on the same Friday a roofer was ordered to repay £10,000 to an 83-year-old Hemel Hempstead woman. Before agreeing to major building work, the service recommends that you:

  • get several written quotes;
  • check the company’s details and business address carefully;
  • ask for references and recommendations from people you trust;
  • check qualifications and professional memberships;
  • make sure you receive the proper certificates and compliance paperwork;
  • be wary of demands for money up front, and of promises that are not put in writing.

Reputable tradespeople can be found through the Which? Trusted Trader scheme. Anyone worried about rogue trading or misleading business practices can get advice and report it to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.