Help to retrofit equity scheme

National government to offer to take an equity share in private houses to fund retrofitting, and to organise the retrofitting at scale through local authorities to guarantee quality and value for money of work. software like DREam might help with planning this work.
Government recovers the equity share when the house is sold. The equity share could be based on the actual cost of the work agains current valuation, or could be in bands (eg 10-15-20%)

Why the contribution is important

Many private home owners are not cash rich, all their equity is tied up in their property. At the same time the landscape of advice and contractors is still confusing. Many people are unsure what's best to do and not confident that the work will be done well or be value for money
Retrofitting brings private benefits in terms of warmer homes and smaller bills, and in terms of market value, so an equity scheme is fair. There is a precedent in terms of help to buy schemes

by peteritchie on September 05, 2022 at 01:27PM

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Average rating: 4.1
Based on: 6 votes

Comments

  • Posted by JC1966 September 05, 2022 at 13:38

    Sensible idea, I would suggest limiting the amount of equity to a moderate 10% and only when existing support will not cover costs.

  • Posted by Cvrtm September 05, 2022 at 16:35

    It's a nice idea provided that value of equity being taken doesn't exceed the the value of the improvements being made.

    As an alternative interest free loans to be repaid from the savings being made would be better, still not a hand out but covers those who won't move for many years (secured against equity so repaid on sale assuming that there is equity to be had).

    The problem of course is that upgrading the oldest properties will take decades to generate the savings needed to offset the investment

  • Posted by Tony September 06, 2022 at 16:28

    You could probably link this into the Open Market Shared Equity scheme. So there is a precedent for the government to own a percentage of the home.

    You take an equity loan out for improvements and the Scottish Government takes a share of the home to be paid back when the property is sold or when the home owner decides to buy back equity.

    Good idea.

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