Homeowners can use grants to boost property values prior to selling their home
04 May 2007
1) Home Information Packs and Energy Performance Certificates
will boost market value of well insulated homes.
2) Government’s EEC2 grants help fund homeowners to enhance energy
performance
UK homeowners can use Government-funded grants to add to the value
of their homes under the new Home Improvement Pack scheme being
implemented from June this year.
The Government is introducing Home Information Packs (HIPs) as part
of wider reforms to cut carbon emissions from homes and to improve
home buying and selling. As well as providing consumers with better
information at the right time in order to improve the speed and
certainty of transactions and reduce wasted costs, HIPs will also
help improve competition in the home buying and selling market and
support wider action to tackle climate change.
From June homeowners are responsible for preparing Home Improvement
Packs prior to putting their home on the market.
While not all parts of the HIP proposals have been implemented the
Government is pressing ahead with the requirement for an Energy
Performance Certificate for all homes being sold, which will rate
the energy efficiency performance – and potential – of each home in
the same way that ratings exist for domestic appliances.
And according to Eurisol, the association for UK mineral wool
insulation manufacturers, homeowners planning to sell their homes
stand to benefit from improving the maximum energy performance of
their building before they get the Energy Performance Certificate
to be included in their HIP.
Crispin Dunn-Meynell, general secretary of Eurisol said: “An Energy
Performance Certificate that shows the house for sale is at or
close to its maximum energy performance is likely to add to its
market value.However, a house performing below its energy
consumption potential will attract pressure for a discount on the
selling price.
“For the first time the energy efficiency of a home is being tied
to its market value through these new EPCs. House sellers will be
foolish and financially naive not to upgrade the energy performance
of their house before they go about putting it on the
market."
“Mineral wool insulation is the easiest and most cost-effective
method to improve the energy efficiency in a home.”
Homeowners can use Government-funding to boost the value of their
homes. Crispin Dunn-Meynell of Eurisol, said: “The Government has
created the Energy Efficiency Commitment – now in its second
incarnation – to oblige energy suppliers of a certain size to
provide a range of grants and offers which significantly reduce the
cost of installing energy efficiency measures. What's more,
homeowners can take up offers from any of the energy companies,
regardless of who supplies their gas and electricity.
“The Government also funds schemes providing up to £2,500 per
household to improve their heating and energy efficiency. In
England the scheme is known as Warm Front, in Northern Ireland it
is Warm Homes, in Scotland Warm Deal and in Wales it is the Home
Energy Efficiency Scheme.”
Eurisol’s research shows that while a typical detached house
without cavity wall or roof insulation would rate as a Band E
dwelling scoring 57 in the new Energy Performance Certificates, the
addition of basic levels of loft insulation (100mm) would raise the
property to Band D and a score of 65 . The same house with cavity
wall insulation and the loft insulation increased to the
Government’s recommended 270mm thickness would rate as 73 and a C
rating.
The same comparison for a typical semi-detached house would
increase the ratings from 61 (towards the bottom of Band D) for no
insulation to 68 (towards the top of Band D) for 100mm roof
insulation, and to 75 (Band C) for cavity wall insulation plus
270mm roof insulation.
The Department of Communities and Local Government, in its Home
Improvement Pack Update, says: “The Initial Analysis of the energy
efficiency of dwellings, announced last autumn as part of the
review of the sustainability of existing buildings, showed that
around eight million homes have unfilled cavity walls. Yet if all
those homes were properly insulated it would save over 2 MtC in
carbon emissions every year. Consumers would benefit too as cavity
wall insulation costs on average £342 and saves £133 a year –
paying for itself in just over two and a half years. “
Loft insulation, hot water cylinder insulation and improved heating
controls were also identified as cost effective investments that
could be quickly recouped through reduced energy bills.
Details of energy saving grants can be found on the Energy Savings
Trust website at http://www.est.org.uk/myhome/gid/