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(AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
Effective July 1, 2009 Tom Corbett, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General announced the state’s new home improvement consumer protection legislation. The act requires all PA contractors that perform at least $5,000.00 worth of home improvement work per year to register their company with the Attorney General’s office. The intent of the act is to reduce home improvement fraud which totaled 2100 complaints to the AG’s office in 2008.
Prior to agreeing to a home improvement contract the consumer can research any prospective contractor to determine if they have registered. The consumer can utilize this registry in two ways; by calling the PA Attorney General’s hotline at 1-888-520-6680 or by logging onto the AG’s website, see the link below. The suggested method would be to log on to the website since the hotline is not operated 24 hours a day.
For successful registration a contractor must report to the AG’s office the following required information . The contractor must report any criminal convictions relating to; Home improvement transaction, fraud, theft, crimes of deception, or fraudulent business practices. In addition whether the contractor has filed for bankruptcy or was sued in the last 10 years. The contractor must also provide proof of liability insurance.
In addition the act requires a contractor to list his/her company’s registration number on the following documents; all advertisements, contracts, estimates and proposals. This legislation also spells out the minimum information that is required to be included in any contract for home improvement projects.
If the law is violated the defendant can be convicted of a Felony of the third degree punishable up to 7 years in prison and a $15,000.00 fine if the fraud exceeds $2000.00 or a Misdemeanor of the first degree punishable up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000.00 fine if the fraud is less than $2000.00.
The PA Attorney General’s office suggests the following procedure when researching a prospective contractor;
1. Check the PA Attorney General’s contractor registry
2. Check any references for the contractor
3. Check with the Better Business Bureau
4. Get more than one bid
To search a contractor log on to the AG’s website, click on the ‘consumers’ tab, then click the highlighted text “List of Registered Contractors” in the AG’s informational letter. Or click on the sidebar message that states, “click here to see if your contractor is registered.” Then click on the “List of registered contractors” icon.
To view the act in its entirety from the AG’s website, activate the drop down list from the consumers tab, click on home improvement registration from the list and then click on the home improvement law icon.
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