Net Zero Homes – Stamp duty rebates should become available if energy efficiency improvements are completed within two years of property purchase.

Stamp Duty rebates should become available if energy efficiency improvements are completed within two years of property purchase, says UK Finance.

The radical plans are put forward in its latest report by the lender trade group to achieve a Net Zero Homes stock.

The report, Net Zero Homes: Time for a Reset, provides a series of recommendations which tackle the climate change challenge and provide solutions to rising energy bills and their effect on the cost of living.

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES

UK Finance says financial incentives – grants and subsidies – will encourage consumers to implement energy efficient measures to retrofit homes.

David Postings, Chief Executive of UK Finance, says: “Our recommendation is that an energy efficiency adjusted Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) could be utilised to increase demand for energy efficient properties and encourage homeowners to retrofit their homes although other options include using centrally-funded council tax incentives.”

Postings adds that climate change is the number one public policy priority facing this and future generations.

He says: “[We] need to see strong action. In housing this means addressing the impact of heating the UK’s 28 million homes.

“The banking and finance sector is playing, and will continue to play, a key part in facilitating the transition to net zero. The transition must be done in a fair way that that does not leave anyone behind, which is why we believe that in order to make real progress everyone must work together, led by clear, decisive and supportive government action.”

HOUSING STOCK

For mortgage lenders, Postings says that this means not just greening their balance sheets but helping green the housing stock by enabling an inclusive transition.

“A transition that allows the person who has just purchased their ex-council property to play an active part in this change in the same way as someone who has more economic firepower.

“We are also working closely with regulators to address what lenders can do now and in future to tackle this challenge.”

Blog Post The Negotiator

See details of our Guaranteed Rent Scheme here