New Green Homes Grant to give up to £5,000 in vouchers for insulation and double-glazing

Questor2828

I have been trying to get a quote for external wall insulation on a property I rent out. The house has an EPC rating of D but the installer said it must be E or lower to get the grant. I can't see anything to confirm this. Does anyone know if this is correct.

AN64

Freebeebabe said:

My daughter moved into a victorian terrace with no insulation at all. Waited for the scheme to start so she could apply. There are only 3 Trustmark installers within 60 miles of where she lives. Finally got a guy to come and quote to board the walls with insulated plasterboard. He said it would be 63mm thick, effectively reducing the size of the rooms by 5.5 inches!!! His quote was 3 times more than a local tradesman who, sadly, was not Trustmark registered. As she will have to put a third of the cost herself there was no financial benefit to get grant from the goverment (vouchers). Also, the scheme doesnt include skimming walls, just boarding out, so you'll have to pay for skimming yourself. The whole scheme is an absolute con. She'd rather boost her local economy by giving the work to a local tradesperson. This scheme is a total misuse of taxpayers money under the disguise of creating 'Greener Homes' and should be scrapped.    

These quotes should not be rubber stamped. Someone should be checking each one & if found to be inflated excessively the application should be refused. It is an abuse of taxpayers money & morally wrong. At this rate the whole amount available for this scheme will be swallowed up in no time

arty688

AN64 said:

Freebeebabe said:

My daughter moved into a victorian terrace with no insulation at all. Waited for the scheme to start so she could apply. There are only 3 Trustmark installers within 60 miles of where she lives. Finally got a guy to come and quote to board the walls with insulated plasterboard. He said it would be 63mm thick, effectively reducing the size of the rooms by 5.5 inches!!! His quote was 3 times more than a local tradesman who, sadly, was not Trustmark registered. As she will have to put a third of the cost herself there was no financial benefit to get grant from the goverment (vouchers). Also, the scheme doesnt include skimming walls, just boarding out, so you'll have to pay for skimming yourself. The whole scheme is an absolute con. She'd rather boost her local economy by giving the work to a local tradesperson. This scheme is a total misuse of taxpayers money under the disguise of creating 'Greener Homes' and should be scrapped.    

These quotes should not be rubber stamped. Someone should be checking each one & if found to be inflated excessively the application should be refused. It is an abuse of taxpayers money & morally wrong. At this rate the whole amount available for this scheme will be swallowed up in no time

Don't worry that super efficient Government machine wouldn't let that happen
Then there all those high quality jobs this will create oh until March !
Well at least Trustmark will make loads out of new registrations.
This scheme was cobbled together on a back of a fag packet down the pub after 10 pints. Then given to a committee and finally run by the civil service . I don't understand after going though all those stages how it not perfect must have been something the las government did !

johan46

Questor2828 said:

I have been trying to get a quote for external wall insulation on a property I rent out. The house has an EPC rating of D but the installer said it must be E or lower to get the grant. I can't see anything to confirm this. Does anyone know if this is correct.

This is incorrect. Are you sure that installer is Trustmark registered and PAS2030-certified?

As a landlord, your properties are required to be EPC E or above in most parts of the country, otherwise you cannot legally rent them out (unless you have an exception).

To take part in the scheme, you need to provide evidence that the rented out property has at least EPC rating of E. That is a minimum requirement, not a maximum! In other words, if you have F or G then you cannot take part in the scheme. I assume this is because you are illegal, and you should not use funding from the scheme to make the property legal to rent out.

This is mentioned in https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-the-green-homes-grant-scheme

highnal

Nearly a week since applications opened, has anyone had a response yet?

mpet

highnal said:

Nearly a week since applications opened, has anyone had a response yet?

No - I did email asking what the expected timescales are, but I don’t suppose I’ll get a reply!

arty688

mpet said:

highnal said:

Nearly a week since applications opened, has anyone had a response yet?

No - I did email asking what the expected timescales are, but I don’t suppose I’ll get a reply!

mpet said:

highnal said:

Nearly a week since applications opened, has anyone had a response yet?

No - I did email asking what the expected timescales are, but I don’t suppose I’ll get a reply!

so now you need to email to ask what the SLA for responding to an email is ?

Ggowda

mpet said:

highnal said:

Nearly a week since applications opened, has anyone had a response yet?

No - I did email asking what the expected timescales are, but I don’t suppose I’ll get a reply!

I got a reply back today after 2 days. They didn't even answer the question on how long it would take so I sent another one email

rajanm

I managed to get a quote on Cavity Wall and Loft insulation for my 4 bed semi detached in Kent.  The cavity wall was around £1200 and the loft around £700.  I now have a quote for a new composite door too which is around £1870.  With the govt vouchers I should only have to pay around £1200-£1300 for all of these measures.  I submitted my application yesterday but there was no indication of timescale.  

I decided not to rely on the Simple Energy Advice site to find my tradespeople as there were very few within 30 miles of me.  I just typed in 'trust mark' 'doors' and 'Kent' into google and found a couple of companies who said they were taking part.  Hopefully I get the vouchers but my advice is not to just rely on the installers page on the Simple Energy Advice site!

Lorian

Has anyone managed to find any supplier enrolled and interested in giving a flat root insulation quote?