What we check, and who is liable
If you are handing us other people's homes, you need to know exactly what standing a tradesperson on Tradelynx has been held to — and exactly what happens if a job goes wrong. Both answers are below, including the parts that are limits rather than strengths.
Before a trader can take work
Who they are
Every trader completes identity verification through DiDit — a document check against a live selfie — before they can take work. It is not optional and it is not self-declared.
Where that stops: It confirms the person is who they say they are. It is not a criminal-record check, and it says nothing about the quality of their work.
Public liability insurance
Traders must hold public liability cover to receive work. Certificates are read automatically on upload — insurer, policy number and expiry are extracted and compared — and anything that does not match goes to a person rather than being rejected by software.
Where that stops: Traders hold their OWN policy; Tradelynx does not insure their work. Founding traders were admitted on a declaration, and from 2026-09-25 a declaration stops counting — only a verified certificate does. We check the certificate; we do not contact the insurer to confirm the policy is still in force.
Trade credentials
Where a trade has a competent-person register — Gas Safe, NICEIC, ELECSA, NAPIT, OFTEC, WaterSafe, FMB, NFRC, TrustMark — a trader's registration number is recorded and checked against that register by a person, who records the outcome and the URL they checked.
Where that stops: These checks are manual. We have no API access to any of these registers — Gas Safe declined our request — so a check is a point in time, not live monitoring. A registration could lapse the day after we look.
Who decides
A person approves every trader. Automated checks give a trader fast feedback on their upload, but only a human approval admits anyone to the platform.
Where that stops: That means admission is as good as our reviewers. It is not a certification, and we do not audit work on site.
Who is responsible if something goes wrong
The tradesperson is the contractor. The contract for the work is between them and you, and they carry their own public liability insurance for it.
Tradelynx does not insure, indemnify or guarantee the work. We are not a party to the contract and we do not employ the traders on the platform. Any claim arising from work done is against the trader and their insurer.
What we do is make the trader accountable: their identity is verified, their insurance is required, their credentials are checked against the relevant register where one exists, and the work is recorded against the property so there is a trail afterwards.
If something goes wrong
- Tell the trader first. Most problems are resolved directly, and the contract is with them. If you have already tried and got nowhere, skip to the next step rather than waiting.
- Raise it with us. Contact support@tradelynx.co.uk with the job reference. We can see the job, the messages and the record, and we will contact the trader.
- What we can do. We can mediate, we can suspend a trader's access while a dispute is open, and we can record the outcome against their account so it counts in future. We cannot compel a trader to return, order compensation, or pay a claim.
- What comes next. If it is an insurance matter, it goes to the trader's insurer — we will give you their policy details on request. If it is a competence matter for a registered trade, the register itself takes complaints and can act on a registration in ways we cannot.
Public liability cover has always been required to receive work. From 2026-09-25 it means a verified certificate rather than a declaration — including for the traders who joined us first.
For data protection, sub-processors and our security posture, the security & data protection pack is available on request. Questions about a specific job go to support@tradelynx.co.uk.