Felixstowe cowboy builder sentenced after carrying out unsafe work
He'll have to pay almost £28,000 in compensation to his victims
A Felixstowe builder has been handed a suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay almost £28,000 in compensation after being taken to court by Suffolk Trading Standards.
56 year old Kevin Zizka, of Coronation Drive, was trading as KHF Building & Landscaping Ltd across Suffolk.
He came to the attention of authorities after customers raised concerns.
One case saw a homeowner in Felixstowe charged over £17,000 for the removal of a chimney breast, installation of steel beams and a new kitchen.
Zizka left the job part way through, leaving crucial steel beams to rust. Electrical work on the site was also found to be unsafe.
A customer from Ipswich asked Zizka to install a kitchen and fit steel beams. The work caused her ceiling to drop, meaning it had to be propped up.
Zizka failed to fit the beams properly, leaving parts of the building at risk of collapse.
He also charged his customers VAT despite not being registered with HMRC. He took fees for applications which he failed to submit.
Zizka plead guilty to one count of Fraudulent Trading under Section 993 of the Companies Act 2006 and two counts of commercial practice which contravened the requirements of professional diligence under regulation 8 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
He was handed a four month suspended prison sentence and has been told to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and take part in rehabilitation.
He's been disqualified from being a company director, told to fork out £27,841 in compensation to his victims, along with £10,000 in costs to Trading Standards.
Stuart Hughes, Senior Investigating Officer for Suffolk Trading Standards, said:
“The homeowners in this case have endured considerable upset and upheaval from the mess that Kevin Zizka caused to their properties, as well as the frustration of trying to get him back to correct unsafe work.
“Rectifying his actions has been a stressful and costly process for the victims, who have had to find additional monies to fund repairs for work they had already paid for.
“There is no doubt that Mr Zizka let his customers down badly, after they trusted him to act with honesty and integrity. Instead of improving their homes, he left them in a worse state than before, lied to them and ran off with their money.”