Green Deal MSE Guide Discussion

John_Pierpoint

ninjaryder wrote: »

I am a few days away from qualifying as a green deal assessor and even though I have a good knowledge of all the energy saving measures proposed by the green deal I must admit that there is an awful lot of fine tuning to be done still. I think the majority of measures will be cavity wall and loft insulation with new boilers making up the rest. The others are simply not cost effective or practicable on most properties.

Don't forget to put the fear of God into the landlords by pointing out that if they don't modernised to a high standard of sustainability (what ever that is) they may not be allowed to let their property.

To meet the 2020 target there are more homes to improve than minutes in the calendar. Slum landlords go over the compulsory cliff edge to bankruptcy first in 2018. Forget the stupid owners who failed to insulate, while it was free - sneak up on the Landlords, who thought that a fancy new kitchen & bathroom was all it took to convert from rents paid by the [STRIKE]local authority[/STRIKE] tax payers to survive in a real market, where the tenants pay their own rents..

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=2018+deadline+for+landlords&l=1

Gouldus

MSE_Helen_Saxon wrote: »

Hi Gouldus

When we were researching the guide, took info from the Green Deal cashback website, it says there on the FAQs that you don't need to take finance to get the cashback, you can pay upfront.

Link

I think that you do have to go through a provider and get a GD plan - you can't get the assessment and then go straight to an installer - that's my reading of the "Who can apply for the GD Cashback scheme?" question on that link.

Helen

Thanks Helen - I have looked at the link and yes, what you say is right according to that but it isn't what Green Deal Help Line has told me. I have just spoken to an Assessor by phone who also tells me that they can't do the work if we wanted them to as the money from the Government hasn't come through. Can your team find any answers - I understand you are doing your best. I see that Martin is on "This Morning" on monday dealing with Green Deal - can he clarify all this on air?

Minxie61

Hi
We recently had a Green Deal Surveyor turn up on our doorstep - and went through the FIT and sell back tariffs etc. However, although it all seemed great - we kept asking about the repayments on the loan and how it all worked. It now transpires - that a credit check was applied to the homeowner and bank details taken to pay back the loan - the loan was with a finance company and not through the electricity provider. we were told that the investment we were making would make us a healthy profit in the long term - we asked for the figures but 7 days later nothing as appeared save to say that we have now cancelled this in writing since the only way the assessor would continue was to carry out a credit check. In addition, the loan was with the home owner and not the property and we were told that the solar panels could be removed and taken with us for a £200 cost.
We would own the panels not the house - so in effect - if we moved house, we would have to repay the loan or pay £200 to remove them or ask the new home owner to take on the loan ... All sounded a bit of a scam to us ... so i think one needs to be very careful with what is out there and go via the energy providers ...

motherconfessor

My question is simple: does anyone know if I can get Green Deal loan whilst I am on a DMP? I hope someone can help.

amcg67

i am in Scotland, went ahead 4 weeks ago and paid 120 pound for a green deal assessment, recommended external wall insulation as I have solid walls. I was told by assessor this could be paid for through a combination of green deal through utility provider and eco funding as is costly. however energy saving trust Scotland are telling me that NO government funding is yet in place for this and they have no idea when it will be. they have a huge list of people waiting on a call back and presumably this just keeps growing. I am unable to find a provider of external wall insulation in Scotland at al nevermind trying to get any company to give me a green deal quote. so green deal so far has just left me £120 out of pocket. surely this cant be right. I don't even know who to complain to about this as there's no info on the website? anyone in Scotland having similar problems?

pjjb

I had a phone call today about the green deal and I was interested until they said the assessment would be £299. When I said I had watched Martin Lewis on this morning and he had said it would be about £125 to £150 he put the pone down on me

epcdave

For once even Martin has been unable to understand the GD, he did admit is was complicated!!, this morning he showed his lack of knowledge in the scheme. Double glazing, is perhaps the worst example of how the GD will work, possible savings gained was nonsense!! so why did he keep talking about it?, i am sorry if ML does not understand how the GD works, he will regret his semi validation of how it will work in the long run. Qualified GD assessors are confused, ECO providers are confused, do you just need an normal EPC? to benefit? do you need a GD? the fact is insulate your loft walls ect, wait till you boiler blows up and get a more efficient one, DG is last on your list. If you have hard to treat walls solid ect see if can claim for grants. Sorry Martin but you have lost the plot on this one. If he thinks it is to complicated to make sense of, then make a bold statement and tell everyone to avoid the GD until the Government make it easy for non saving experts to understand. This could be a massive miss selling compensation story, that has been poorly explained now and could be avoided with the right advice.

lstar337

Is there any kind of guide to interpreting the Green Deal 'Advice Report' and the Energy Performance Certificate?

I'm not a stupid person, but the information in these two documents is baffling!

Not only do they not even closely represent what we were told when the assessor visited the property, but they conflict each other on almost every point!

The thing that puzzles me the most, is that it's an old building (way over 100 years), with huge leaky single glazed windows that the wind whistles through, solid walls that cannot have cavity wall or external insulation, and sky high enrgy bills, and yet the Green Deal Report says it is on par with 'The Average Household'! When the assessor first looked at the place she said the building was an extreme case, the energy bills were excessive, and that it was a perfect candidate.

I simply cant believe that this is average.

John_Pierpoint

Nor can I, what was the overall rating(s) awarded on the EPC ?

What sort of windows?

So much for the windows and the walls, what is the floor and the roof like ?

Is it terrace, semi or detached?

Is it listed or in a conservation area?

lstar337

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Nor can I, what was the overall rating(s) awarded on the EPC ?

The overall rating on the EPC is 64 (Group D), but even the information on the EPC does not reflect what we are seeing. For one thing, it claims the current cost for heating is only £927 for a 3 year period. If that was true I wouldn't even be bothering with the assessment!

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

What sort of windows?

The current windows are large single glazed sash windows. They have not been refirbed in a long time and the frames are very poor. They let air in at the mid point and at the bottom. You can feel the cold eminating from the area when standing a meter away from them.

I feel that replacing these alone would solve most of our energy problems. I am fine with the storage heaters, as long as we can keep the heat in!

According to Green Deal, annual savings on double glazing would only be £34. I would save more than that in a week if I could turn the storage heaters input charge down by a quater!

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

So much for the windows and the walls, what is the floor and the roof like ?

The floor has carpet on it, not sure what else. There is a shop front underneath which is currently vacant.

There is another flat above, and judging by the noise levels, some, but not a lot of insulation between us.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Is it terrace, semi or detached?

Terrace. Which rules out us doing anything to the walls. All the flats have different landlords/tennants and they would all have to agree if any work was to be done.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Is it listed or in a conservation area?

Landlord says no.

Another thing I have just spotted that makes no sense, in the 'Improvements Recommended' table, it says this:

Improvement - Increase hot water cylinder insulation
Estimated Cost - £15 to £30
Estimated annual saving - £21
Expected Green Deal repayment in year 1 - £54

How can the first repayment be more than the total cost of upgrade?!

There are many other wild figures on here too.

Please correct me if I am reading it wrong.

The whole thing looks like it is designed to push wall insulation and nothing else. Annual savings for that are listed as £166/year.

Astonishingly, it says that 'Draught Proofing' at £80 - £120 would not be covered by Green deal, and would require extra funding at our expense!