Green Deal – a legacy or a millstone?

What happens if you have work done under the Green Deal and you want to sell your house.

The idea behind the Green Deal is to allow you to have certain approved work done at your property and then to pay for the work in installments via your energy bills.

The work would have to be assessed before if was carried out to ensure that you would save at least as much as it cost you to repay each month This know as the ‘golden rule’.

So what happens if you want to move house?

The energy benefits of the work will stay at the house and therefore so will the monthly costs (until the capital and interest are repaid).

This might not suit your purchaser, but you will have the option of paying off the money borrowed, if this proves to be a stumbling block.

What if you are buying a house?

If a vendor has had work done under the Green Deal, then it will be shown on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). The EPC is an essential report on the energy performance of any house that is on the market for sale or to rent. It must be displayed by the agent at the time of sale and it should be available for any prospective purchaser to see.

Read more about EPC reports on the Riley Marshall blog, click on the image below.

Repay or not?

It is not worth repaying the green deal loan attached to your property, unless the purchaser really does not want to take on the debt. Remember that the purchaser will be enjoying the benefits of the energy savings that your property improvements cost, so be sure not to lose out in any haggling of this type.

You could always offer to pay off the Green Deal agreement for a similar adjustment in the house price.

For more information on the Green Deal you can visit our Green Living section.