Additional borrowing available for energy efficiency improvements

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Just EPC are delighted to hear that the Nationwide Building Society has created a new scheme helping home owners raise extra funds to use on improving the energy efficiency of their property.

Obtaining an energy performance certificate is not just about meeting legislation it is also about the property owner learning about their property by going through the process. The EPC assessment will show areas of the property that can be improved to increase the property’s EPC score and it is encouraging to see the country’s largest building society rewarding those homeowners who choose the green option and want to improve the efficiency of their property.

Launched last week the building society’s Green Additional Borrowing will be available to any current nationwide mortgage holder and they will be able to access between £5,000 and £20,000 of additional borrowing at a very competitive rate (believed to be 2.29%) These funds are then used for energy saving improvements that in turn should increase the value and marketability of the property.

Just EPC see this as a hugely positive step in the process of making UK homes more energy efficient and helping UK homeowners reduce their energy bills. It is also an important step within the EPC loop as the homeowner uses the assessor’s knowledge to identify which areas of the property should be concentrated on. If additional borrowing is applied for without an expert assessing the property first then it is possible that the homeowner could spend the majority of the borrowing on work that doesn’t significantly improve the efficiency of the property. It would be good to see Nationwide take this scheme a step further and similar to Ecology Building Society tie the improvement in the EPC to the actual borrowing.

We wait to see what level of take up the Nationwide scheme has but it is a step in the right direction of making the UK more energy efficient and saving tightly squeezed household budgets much needed cash!