The Green Deal Finance Company was set up in 2013 to offer cash-backs and financial incentives to homeowners to make their properties more energy efficient. Unfortunately, however, the scheme didn’t work as well as the government planned and the government has decided to scrap it.
Tenants Eligible for Green Deal Scheme
Tenants as well as landlords were eligible for the Green Deal scheme, with the cost of the work added to future energy bills for the property, so landlords didn’t have to pay for a thing.
Critics of the scheme think it’s a good thing that the government has pulled the plug. Consumer organisation, Which? said the government was throwing good money after bad, so it needed to end. The home insulation industry is not happy, however. They say there is too much uncertainty because the government hasn’t figured out whether (or indeed if) a replacement scheme needs to be put in place. They say homes in the UK have the worst levels of insulation in Europe and saving energy is a cheaper way of lifting poor families out of fuel poverty.
ARLA Unhappy
The Association of Residential Lettings Agents is also unhappy with the demise of the Green Deal scheme:
“Just as the Green Deal looks like it will finally succeed, the government seems determined to sabotage its own policy. The NLA advise all landlords with a draft Green Deal plan to act immediately in order to benefit from the previous funding incentives.”
Unfortunately, until the government makes a decision, landlords will have to fund their own energy efficiency measures.
