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The information provided on this post does not, and is not intended to, represent legal advice. All information available on this site is for general informational purposes only. If you need legal help, you should contact a lawyer. You may be eligible for our free legal services and can apply by calling our Covid Legal Hotline at 1-844-244-7871 or applying online here.

Contractor fraud from hurricane repairs? Restore Louisiana may be able to help survivors of Hurricanes Ida, Delta and Laura.

Did a contractor take your money without doing repairs you paid for or by doing terrible work?

Contractor fraud occurs if:

• Your contractor did not finish work within 45 days of getting paid, unless the contract gives more time.
• Your contractor damaged your home.
• Your contractor did poor work or work worth less than you paid for.
• Your contractor lied about permits or licenses.
• Your contractor misled you to get the job.

If even one of these things happened, you may be able to get help from the Restore Louisiana program.

Restore Louisiana helps Louisiana homeowners rebuild homes destroyed or severely damaged. The home must have been severely damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Ida, Laura, or Delta.

Restore Louisiana can sometimes help homeowners who are victims of contractor fraud.

The Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD) runs this federal disaster relief program.

Can I get Restore Louisiana aid?

Every one of the things on this list must be true to get the help:

• You owned the home when the hurricane hit.
• That home was the main place where you lived when the hurricane hit.
• You still own that home.
• Your income must be low enough to meet the guidelines. Different limits will apply depending on how many people apply. But the limits are set out here.
• The government must find that your home had “major and severe” damage.

Any of these three things count as “major and severe” damage:

• You had a FEMA award of at least $8,000 to repair your home.
• You had a FEMA award of at least $3,500 for personal property.
• Your home had more than one foot of flooding.

How do I show contractor fraud?

You must show all of these things:

• Proof that you paid the contractor. Proof that the contractor did not finish the job. This may be photos of repairs not finished, a current estimate of work needed from a new contractor to finish the work, and so on).
• Proof that you told enough government officials that your contractor committed fraud.

You will need to give Restore Louisiana paperwork to show you reported the fraud. The program will want proof you did all of these:

• Filed a fraud report with the Louisiana Attorney General’s office
• Filed a police report
• Filed a fraud complaint with the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors

To find out more about Restore Louisiana and how to apply, go to https://slls.org/restore-louisiana/

If you are a Hurricane Ida survivor who has been the victim of contractor fraud, you may be eligible for free legal assistance with problems with Restore Louisiana and sometimes regarding contractor fraud.

To see if you can get free help, call the Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Disaster Legal Services Hotline at: 1-800-310-7029, or apply at our website here.

References

http://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?p=y&d=508538