Wigan family unable to live in their home claim builder owes £4,800 after failing to do work

But the workman claims he could not do it after being refused access to the property on Norley Hall Avenue, Norley.

Abby Ashcroft, her husband Thomas and their two-year-old daughter left their home in April 2023 due to severe subsidence.

They went to stay at a relative’s house in Pemberton while they made arrangements for work to be carried out and re-mortgaged their home.

In April this year, they hired Steven Mooney, of RS Building Services, to do three jobs at the property – work on the roof, windows and doors, and the roof of a wash-house annex.

Mrs Ashcroft says he told her the first job – the main roof – would take three days to complete, while all three would be done in five weeks.

Mr Mooney was paid £6,800 as a deposit and started the work, with everything seeming to be going well.

But Mrs Ashcroft, 29, alleges he started “messing us about” by failing to turn up.

"I think I counted eight to 10 times when he was a no-show,” she said.

After three weeks, they decided to cancel the rest of the work. Mrs Ashcroft says she asked him to finish the roof and either return £4,800 or give them the materials he had bought.

She claims he agreed to deliver the materials and complete the work on the roof, but this has still not been done.

Mr Mooney claims Mrs Ashcroft refused him access to the site four times, citing domestic matters and illness, so he has not been able to do the work.

The family have still not returned home because the property is “unliveable”, according to Mrs Ashcroft.

She says she has reported Mr Mooney to the police, National Fraud Intelligence Bureau and trading standards, and has started action in the small claims court.

She said: “He knows that my daughter is growing up in someone else’s home.

"I have said I want to be back in as soon as possible. I wear my heart on my sleeve and said how desperate we are to get back in, and he promised the roof would be done in three days and all the work in five weeks.

"Now we are eight weeks in and having to take him to court because he isn’t replying to our messages and giving us answers about where our money has gone.”

Mr Mooney told the Observer that deposits were not refundable and he is taking action against Mrs Ashcroft.

He said: “I am waiting for the police to come back to me on the matter because she is harassing not only me but my family, contacting my mother on Facebook and somehow getting her number too.

"The reason the job was not completed was because she refused to let me on site four times.”

Mrs Ashcroft confirmed she went to Mr Mooney’s home to speak to him, contacted his former partner and tried to contact his mother via Facebook and text message, but denies harassment and said police told her a complaint had not been lodged.

She says he was refused access to the site twice, not four times.