THE PROPERTY FILTER TAKE
The government has launched an opt-in Approved Code for home improvement traders, live with its first firms by the end of September 2026 and fully live by December 2026.
From a portfolio perspective, a checkable trade credential and payments released against project milestones reduce the chance that a stalled refurbishment pushes back your refinance date.
You may wish to ask whether your regular trades are signing up to the Approved Code before your next project, and consider writing milestone payment terms into your contracts.
The government has launched an opt-in Approved Code for home improvement traders (GOV.UK, 28 August 2026). It is live with its first firms by the end of September 2026 and fully live by December 2026. The same announcement cites research showing people lost over £10.3 billion in 2024 on home and garden maintenance through losses, overpriced costs or unfair practices. From a portfolio perspective, that is the risk sitting behind every refurbishment you commission.
Note on sourcing: the trade report that carried this story was not reachable at the time of writing. Facts and figures below come from the government press release of 28 August 2026 and Homebuilding & Renovating.
What is the Approved Code and who runs it?
The Approved Code is delivered by the Furniture and Home Improvement Ombudsman (FHIO) in partnership with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (GOV.UK, 28 August 2026). An ombudsman is an independent body that settles disputes between consumers and businesses. Firms that sign up show they meet higher standards of customer service, transparency and dispute resolution, according to the announcement. Government supports the scheme. It does not run it.
The code is live with its first firms by the end of September 2026 and fully live by December 2026 (GOV.UK, 28 August 2026). FHIO plans to launch it during the autumn. Participation is opt-in. The announcement describes businesses who sign up, not a licence every trader has to hold. It also refers to builders across the UK and sets no national limit on the code. The separate bailiff measures announced the same day apply in England and Wales only.
That distinction matters if you hold property. An opt-in register tells you a firm has committed to a code. It does not tell you the job will land on time. Treat it as one more check rather than a replacement for your own, and build it into how you systemise your refurbishment process.
How milestone payments change refurbishment risk
Alongside the code, the government points to a new system that protects money during building work, with payments linked to key project milestones (GOV.UK, 28 August 2026). The Trusted Payments app went live in the first week of September (Homebuilding & Renovating, 2 September 2026). The government expects over 100,000 traders to be able to access it before the end of September.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the changes give people an option (GOV.UK, 28 August 2026). Money can be "held safely and released bit by bit as the work gets done", in his words.
For anyone running BRRR (buy, refurbish, rent, refinance), the real exposure is not the extra spend. It is time. A project that stalls for two months delays the valuation, the refinance and the release of your capital into the next purchase. If you are pricing that risk, consider running the post-works figures under stressed rates with our free lender stress test calculator.
What it means for your portfolio over the cycle
The scale sits in the figures the government published. More than one in four UK adults who carried out home improvements in the past 18 months hit problems. Of those, 37% faced extra costs and lost an average of £750 (GOV.UK, 28 August 2026).
A single household absorbs that once. Hold five to twelve properties and run two or three projects a year, and you meet the same risk repeatedly. Each hit lands on a different refinance timetable, so the cost over the cycle is the delayed capital rather than the £750. That is why the timing of refinancing and bridging finance deserves as much attention as the build quote.
Two limits are worth holding on to. The £10.3 billion loss figure and the 37% both come from research linked in the notes to the government announcement. That release does not name the research bodies in its own text. And cover stays partial while the code is opt-in, so it narrows your shortlist rather than replacing references, contracts and staged money. You may wish to weigh that against the approach in our guide to buy-refurbish-refinance strategies.
Key takeaways
The Approved Code for home improvement traders is fully live by December 2026, with first firms by the end of September (GOV.UK, 28 August 2026).
Participation is opt-in, so the register shows which firms have committed to a code rather than covering every trader.
Over 100,000 traders are expected to be able to access the Trusted Payments milestone app before the end of September (GOV.UK, 28 August 2026).
People lost over £10.3 billion in 2024 on home and garden maintenance through losses, overpriced costs or unfair practices, per research cited by the government.
More than one in four UK adults who did home improvements in the past 18 months hit problems, and 37% of those lost an average of £750.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Approved Code compulsory for tradespeople?
When does the Approved Code start?
Which parts of the UK does it cover?
How do the milestone payments work?
