The UK government has announced the details of the long awaited Green Deal. Despite it being on the cards for years it appears that the mandarins in Whitehall have, as many suspect, got no idea of how the marketplace works and even less idea of what is and isn't affordable. Let's look at some of the ludicrous elements of the 'deal':
- The loan which can be up to 25 years stays with the property and not with the person who takes out the loan - what sense is there in this? Who in there right mind would bother looking at a house that had such a loan attached to it? It would be in addition to any mortgage they would need to buy it. Utter madness. This will make such houses unsellable - hardly useful for getting the property market going again.
- Interest rates that are higher than can be obtained on the high street make no sense at all even if you wanted to take out such a loan. There are no incentives whatsoever to take out such a loan if you are able to get one from a reputable lender. Of course, if you have trouble getting a loan then this monopoly offering will cost you dear.
- "Approved Green Deal Installers" will advise on what needs to be done to improve insulation etc. after an assessor (independent?) has visited people's homes. So the more that gets recommended to be done the more work the installers get and the more homeowners have to pay out at an over-inflated interest rate for up to 25 years? Not sure about Green Deal, seems more like the Greed Deal for everyone apart from homeowners.
- Oh yes, it's worth mentioning that there's no guarantee that you'll make savings in your heating bills equivalent to the loan you took out. And, if you did take out a loan and wanted to pay it off sooner than the 25 years - you would be charged for the privilege of that too.
Avoid the Green Deal, it makes no sense at all. I wonder how much money the government has wasted dreaming up such a crackpot scheme? Maybe I don't want to no the answer to that.
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