SNP plan to outlaw sale of houses with gas boilers

ProDave

Well that is the headline    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/23/scotland-homes-sale-ban-swap-gas-boilers-heat-pumps-snp/

The reality is they intend to insist you upgrade a house to at least an EPC C before you are allowed to sell it.  That might include replacing a gas boiler with something else, it might not.

Whilst I have been saying for years we need to improve our housing stock and it is time people actually looked at the EPC rating and realised a house with a poor EPC should be worth less than a house with a good EPC, this is not the way to achieve that.

For ANY government in ANY country to say "your house is not good enough, you can't sell it until you have upgraded it" is a draconian step too far.

I wonder how Scottish voters might change their mind when tens of thousands realise if they continue voting SNP their houses might become unsellable?

theartfullodger

So English government insisting on at least  minimum EPC for private rentals has been likewise terrible ? 

oldernonethewiser

This proposal is from the Greens in Scotland who are in government with the SNP.

Unsurprisingly a misleading headline.

Like other proposals it may well disappear.

"English government" - who are they?

MultiFuelBurner

theartfullodger said:

So English government insisting on at least  minimum EPC for private rentals has been likewise terrible ? 

And yet they are about to back down on the EPC reform's for 2025 EPC grade C for landlords.

https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2023/7/government-to-relax-the-pace-of-threatened-epc-reform

ProDave

The Scottish government have a similar minimum for rentals.  I am not saying that is good or bad.  But at least if a property is so bad, the landlord could sell it, possibly at a lower price to reflect it's condition to a private owner or someone able to upgrade it.

Now it seems that option is being closed off.  You could end up with a property that is too poor to let or even to sell under this new proposed law, and you don't have the money or ability to upgrade it.  Then what?

I can see a lot of particularly elderly people stuck in this trap.  Old house that they are not allowed to sell, no money to upgrade it, they want to sell to move to something better for their old age but can't.  There will then be a lot of executors trying to deal with an inherited property that they can't sell.  Then what.

I am convinced people who write these sort of laws think people live in a poor house because they like doing so and of course they can all be easily and cheaply upgraded of only people were given a reason to do so.  That could not be further from the truth.

I type all that as a believer in we need to upgrade our houses, I recently completed a self build that achieved an EPC A94, so I know how to do it, but I would not want to start with an old house to do so, and empty plot of land is better for that.

user1977

ProDave said:

I wonder how Scottish voters might change their mind when tens of thousands realise if they continue voting SNP their houses might become unsellable?

What are the other Scottish parties' policies on this topic? (not that this is even Government policy yet anyway)

(not a trick question, I genuinely don't know, and suspect the opposition will keep things as vague as possible until they have to write manifestos)

sheramber

I wonder how many Green supporters won houses with a gas boiler?

The same party who think we all should  get  rid of our cars and use public transport , but chose to use a private ferry to make a visit to an island instead of using the normal passenger service because the ferry times  didn't suit.

But those who use public transport ofter have the same problem.

BJV

I know that we all have to try to be energy aware and focus on climate change but the cost alone is massive.

We have just had a new A-rated gas boiler fitted as we could not afford a heat pump. £15K + for a heat pump ???? 

If they could make the systems more affordable I think lots of more people would jump at the chance to save energy. 

It is the same old beating stick methodology.
When will they realize that they should make policies which encourage,  make it easy to engage in which will work better than the waggy finger and financial hurdles.!!!!

BungalowBel

So someone is not at liberty to sell their house if it doesn't meet these standards, even if someone is willing to buy it?  Communists here we come.

ProDave

BJV said:

I know that we all have to try to be energy aware and focus on climate change but the cost alone is massive.

We have just had a new A-rated gas boiler fitted as we could not afford a heat pump. £15K + for a heat pump ???? 

If they could make the systems more affordable I think lots of more people would jump at the chance to save energy. 

It is the same old beating stick methodology.
When will they realize that they should make policies which encourage,  make it easy to engage in which will work better than the waggy finger and financial hurdles.!!!!

This is a problem that the people setting the rules cannot see.

I built my own house and self installed my own ASHP.  I paid under £1000 for the heat pump (bargain buy) but the same heat pump is openly on sale from wholesalers currently for £2500.

In most cases all you need to install a heat pump is a plumber and an electrician each for no more than 2 days.  But we have a crazy scheme where you are almost forced to use an MCS company to install it and you get the silly prices you have mentioned.  WHY.

DON'T think an ASHP is going to be cheaper than a gas boiler to run.  It is not.  A well fitted ASHP the best it can hope for is parity with running costs of a gas boiler.  I chose to install one as there is no mains gas here and I did not want an oil tank, and it is about the only way electric heating is cost effective.  One day, it will be carbon neutral, but not until we stop burning fossil fuel to generate electricity.

MattMattMattUK

theartfullodger said:

So English government insisting on at least  minimum EPC for private rentals has been likewise terrible ? 

There is no English government. There is also a huge difference between requiring an EPC for rentals and requiring one to be able to sell a property.