Green deal: I must be very naïve ...

koups

I paid for a green deal assessment today for my property and had a very strange appointment. I wonder if I am just a little naïve .

I had little confidence in the assessors ability to actually work out the energy efficiency of my house and his attitude was quite poor.

However, he called me up in the evening and said that he has got me a deal for £2000 for external wall insulation via an approved contractor. I congratulated him and said that obviously I would want to have a chat with the installer to understand what they would do, what materials they would use and any other questions I might have.

The assessor was then quite astounded that I should wish to do this and said that this was not usual policy- he stated that the usual policy would be for me to give 25% as a deposit and then I would have a technical survey and could ask my questions at that point. When I said that I would never do this and trust with a contractor is everything, he switched off and said it wasn't usual policy and intimated that I was wasting his time and he wouldn't be spending much time on my green deal assessment.

Am I just being dreadfully naïve here and is this standard practice? I don't feel comfortable with doing this. I wonder if anyone else has had this experience or could give me some advice here?

Thanks in advance..

silverwhistle

he switched off and said it wasn't usual policy and intimated that I was wasting his time

Nah, he's wasting your time..

EricMears

silverwhistle wrote: »

Nah, he's wasting your time..

More to the point, he's wasting your money ! If it were me, I'd be asking for the Green Deal Inspection Fee to be refunded. If you paid by Credit or Debit card you'd have a pretty good chance of reclaiming fee from card issuer; if you gave him cash, it will be rather harder to get it back.

koups

Thank you- I was going to complain and ask for my money back. However, I wanted to know if this WAS standard practice as he was suggesting. I pay then I speak to the contractor. I also feel I need to protect others from this company (who are approved by the council!)

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

koups wrote: »

Green deal: I must be very naïve ...

I've "thanked" your OP because it makes a good point but especially because of the diæresis. It's a pleasure to see it used. :cool:

ed110220

When you say approved by the council, how was this? Is this one of the council top up grants that operate alongside the Green Deal?

I've had an assessment for one of these and then am expected to get at least two quotes for the work. There doesn't seem to be any obligation to use the provider recommended by the council (Instagroup) as long as the one used is accredited for the Green Deal.

You should be able to use your assessment that you now have with a different installer with a better way of working.

Ed

jimjames

Having seen the mention of the Green Deal I thought it worth pointing out that one thing solicitors check when you are buying a house, is whether there is any Green deal finance attached to the house.

If there is then they will want it to be settled before completion. Not how I envisaged the GD working but equally I'd be wary about buying a house where you were committed to repayments.

ed110220

jimjames wrote: »

Having seen the mention of the Green Deal I thought it worth pointing out that one thing solicitors check when you are buying a house, is whether there is any Green deal finance attached to the house.

If there is then they will want it to be settled before completion. Not how I envisaged the GD working but equally I'd be wary about buying a house where you were committed to repayments.

Are you sure of this? As far as I was aware the repayment obligation would pass to the new owner on sale. Of course some buyers may want this settled first, but then they would perhaps be expected to pay more for the house, rather than gaining the Green Deal improvements free of charge...

Given that the repayments should be less than the savings produced by the improvements, whoever buys the house should be better off just as the previous owner was, but then one cannot expect everyone to think logically about this ;-)

Ed

silverwhistle

Given that the repayments should be less than the savings produced by the improvements, whoever buys the house should be better off just as the previous owner was, but then one cannot expect everyone to think logically about this ;-)

But perhaps the buyer might be as cynical as me, or have different usage patterns to the ones used for the initial calculation.

I'd rather by a home free of any covenants and charges..

ed110220

silverwhistle wrote: »

But perhaps the buyer might be as cynical as me, or have different usage patterns to the ones used for the initial calculation.

I'd rather by a home free of any covenants and charges..

Even if the energy bills (charges) were higher? If the buyer wanted the Green Deal loan settled first, then it would be logical to price the home to reflect this (ie higher than with the loan in place) as one can't expect to get the improvements free of charge.

Ed

Ben84

koups wrote: »

Thank you- I was going to complain and ask for my money back. However, I wanted to know if this WAS standard practice as he was suggesting. I pay then I speak to the contractor. I also feel I need to protect others from this company (who are approved by the council!)

I don't think it is, but even if it were somehow standard practice, you shouldn't feel at all wrong for not wanting to do things this way. Paying a deposit before you're even told in reasonable detail what you're getting shouldn't ever be considered normal or ok.