LoginBelfast Builder Fined for Incomplete Work
A builder who pocketed £20,000 for an unfinished extension has been ordered to pay some of the money back.
Journal of Trading Standards Staff
Posted 12 August 2025 | JoTS Online
Content Tags: Updates|Crime|Northern Ireland
The Trading Standards Service of Northern Ireland (TSSNI) has prosecuted a builder who took £20,000 from a customer to build an extension which he never completed.
Martin Spence (57) of Pretoria Street, Belfast, visited the customer’s property in May 2022 and gave a quote of £53,000 for the construction of a two-storey extension. The homeowner agreed to undertake the project, paying a £10,000 up-front deposit before work began on 21 June 2022.
Despite the second stage of the work – which involved the laying of foundations, construction of brickwork up to the first floor and the installation of pipework for the bathroom – not being complete, Spence demanded a further £10,000 in October 2022.
On receipt of that second payment, hardly any more work was carried out. When contacted by the customer, Spence made numerous promises via text message that the work would be finished. However, by January 2023, with no further progress having been made, Spence messaged the homeowner to terminate the contract.
With a barely-half-built structure at the back of their house, the homeowner was forced to call in another builder to finish the job, paying a further £71,500 for labour and materials that should already have been on site.
The homeowner made a complaint to the TSSNI, who subsequently charged Spence with one charge under the Fraud Act 2006 and one charge under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
Spence pleaded guilty to both charges and, in a hearing at Newtownards Magistrates’ Court on 4 August, he was given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and fined £500. He was also ordered to pay £5,000 in compensation to the victim.
During sentencing the court heard that the episode had had a seriously detrimental effect on the victim and their family’s health and finances.
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Content Tags: Updates|Crime|Northern Ireland
