HouseWrapped

Just finished the first phase of electric storage heater replacements for Leeds & Yorkshire Housing Association. Fitted 14 flats with high heat retention intelligent storage heaters, claimed all £27,000 + from ECO funding with NO cost to client at all.

Anybody wanting to gain access to the ECO2t fund need to do so quickly as storage heater funding is being limited in the run up to ECO3 starting in September 2018. Funding is available to any individual homeowner or tenant.

Companies & individulals such as letting agents , property maintenance companies , landlords and estate agents & managers can also benefit from the fund.

Also, as part of our service we will insulate all lofts to building regulations standards if there is 100mm or less of insulation already in place free of charge. We can also insulate and re-insulate cavity walls at no cost if agreement is confirmed by owner(s) of the leasehold or freehold .

With regard to re-insulation of cavity walls, we can do this because previously insulated cavity walls met thermal standards for retaining heat loss when built but now fall short of meeting ever increasing standards. This is exactly why Ofgem and the UK government agreed to allow ECO funding for this.

There's no need to apply for funding yourselves or any lengthy forms to fill as we do all compliance work ourselves. Simply call HouseWrapped on 0800 689 4483 or email us at info@housewrapped.co.uk. You can even search "HouseWrapped" for more information and to visit our website.

The quick answer to that is because we are now coming to the end of the current transitional phase (ECO2t) which ends in September 2018, and it's ECO funding which allows for these measures to be installed at vastly reduced rates or totally free. The government are currently in consultation regarding the new phase of funding - ECO3.


ECO3 Changes
In this consultation it's suggested that all funding for certain heating replacements be stopped when ECO3 starts. It also suggests that more emphasis be put on the Affordable Warmth group (HHCRO) which basically means that if you're not on a qualifying state benefit then you will probably find yourself paying more or even full price for these measures. However, it has to be said that the consultation also suggests that the qualifying criteria for the Affordable Warmth group be relaxed to allow more homeowners/tenants to take advantage of it. So as you can see funding will not always be around and if you look at the history of ECO funding over the years you will see that it has changed so many times.

Letting Agents & Landlords

As of April 2018 new laws came into practice stating that any new or renewed let property should have an EPC rating of at least E, known as the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES). There are some exceptions to this, but on the whole this level of banding has to be met to allow a property to be let and it will be local authorities who are responsible for enforcing this law.

From our experience in the industry a lot of letting agents and landlords seem to be waiting until they are forced to meet the new regulations, generally by waiting for an old tenancy agreement to expire or even in some cases waiting until they have been given notice to improve their EPC rating.

Why not at least get in touch to find out if the required measures can be installed free of charge under ECO funding. This way you won't find yourself at the end of a tenancy agreement and having to take the property off the market for weeks or months with lost rental income.

Letting agents may also want to consider the added service they can offer by proactively contacting their landlords to say "we've identified several energy savings measures and we are able to have them all paid for you under ECO funding". This not only ensures the property is compliant under the new EPC banding laws but it will also make the property more attractive to let because fuel bills will be lower, and we're sure it won't harm the property's sale price by having a more efficient EPC rating!

Lastly, the tenant. Surely a happy tenant is more likely to remain where they are as apposed to one not being happy about their high fuel bills or being constantly cold and possibly looking for somewhere else to live.

The Environment
To finish off, some consideration has to be given to the environment. The whole ECO funding scheme is part of the UK government's commitment to reducing carbon emission by 80% by the year 2050. By the way, the figure of 80% reduction is what is required to avoid dangerous climate change by the year 2050. We all need to play a part and letting agents & landlords can play a huge part to help meet these commitments.

Just imagine a housing stock of 200 houses and lets say 30% have energy saving measures such as cavity wall or loft insulation identified and installed, when you consider that the average UK home produces roughly 2.5 tonnes of carbon per year (figures from Committee on Clime Change) that's a lot of carbon saved from going into the atmosphere.

How HouseWrapped Can Help

We can survey all properties and identify energy saving measures totally free of charge. We can also access ECO funding to pay towards the costs or in many cases cover the costs in full.

Also, where any measures are identified and have a cost implication we can discuss waiving all or part of this when dealing with several properties from the same housing stock.

We can also help with further fuel bill saving measures with Flipper, a home fuel saving system which constantly keep you on the lowest gas and electric tariff throughout the year without you having to do a thing.

All surveyors and installers are CRB checked, our contracted installers are PAS2030 compliant, have full liability insurance plus risk assessments & method statements are available for all contracts.

All materials are approved by the British Board of Agrement (BBA) and tested by the Energy Saving Trust.

You can visit our website for more information at www.housewrapped.co.uk or call us direct on 0800 689 4483.