黑洞社区

The government鈥檚 main green advisory body has proposed that people be forced to make energy improvements to homes before selling or renting them out.

This is one of the recommendations of a report published on Monday by the UK Green 黑洞社区 Council (UKGBC). It hopes to tackle the problem that existing properties are not as energy efficient as new homes. This issue was highlighted in 黑洞社区鈥檚 99% campaign.

Called Low Carbon Existing Homes, the report suggests homeowners could be required to take measures such as installing new boilers or thicker insulation before being granted the energy performance certificate that allows them to sell their homes.

It says the measures would eventually pay for themselves, through savings on fuel bills.

The report鈥檚 author, Jo Wheeler, senior policy adviser at the UKGBC, said owners would be able to access a proposed loan scheme to pay for the improvements that would be linked to the property and be paid back over 25 years at 5.3%.

She said: 鈥淭here is a need for energy efficient and low-carbon homes to become an aspirational proposition for the householder.鈥�

But Richard Turkington, director of Housing Vision, said: 鈥淚n the present state of the market, anything that places additional costs on vendors will be resisted. There is evidence that people are willing to pay a small premium of between 2 and 5% for a standard of house that would be more environmentally sound.鈥�

Alan Clark, a housing economist with BNP Paribas, said: 鈥淗aving people take on debt in this environment is taboo, really. Debt is a dirty word. Anything that increases the cost of moving home will not be welcomed with open arms.鈥�