September newsletter with Finn's

Which green features do homes with high EPC ratings have?

Whether you’re planning to rent or sell your home, want to cut your bills or carbon footprint, your property’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating matters.

To clarify, an EPC measures the energy efficiency of a property on a scale of A-G, with A being the most efficient and G being the least. A-rated homes should have the lowest fuel bills and carbon emissions – a win for your bank balance and the environment.

Knowing the typical features greener properties command is helpful if you’re looking for a new home or wondering what improvements might boost your current score. A recent overview of high-rated homes listed for sale on a popular property portal, found many shared these attributes:

• Triple-glazed or laminated glass windows

• Aluminium windows (for thermal insulation)

• Air source heat pumps

• Carbon negative construction techniques

• PV solar panels for generating free electricity

• Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems

• HeatStream water tanks

• Underfloor heating

• Ample insulation throughout

Whatever your starting point, we can advise you on improving your property’s EPC rating before renting or selling. We can also help buyers find an energy-efficient new home.

Can equity release help you through the cost-of-living crisis?

With the cap on energy prices set to rise again this autumn and early next year, the cost-of-living crisis isn’t over yet. Homeowners who are struggling to pay their bills, or enjoy the same lifestyle as before, may need to consider how to increase their cash flow.

Unfortunately, those on a fixed income – such as retirees – can’t rely on landing a better job or a promotion to fill the gap. To make matters worse, many older people also support children and grandchildren battling rising bills, house prices, and inflation.

Equity release could be one answer to this knotty problem, as well as helping with other long-standing issues such as care costs, interest-only mortgages, and a small pension pot.

Equity release works by borrowing money secured against your home, which is usually paid back when your home is sold after your death or when you move into residential care. This is also known as a lifetime mortgage, though other options are available.

However, unlocking money from your home has drawbacks, such as reducing the amount your beneficiaries will inherit from your estate, and affecting your entitlement to means-tested benefits. If you’re already receiving council-funded care in your home, you may have to pay more after you release equity.

Before making any major financial decision, we highly recommend talking to a qualified advisor. We’re also on hand to discuss other options, such as downsizing or improving your property’s energy efficiency to reduce your bills.

Contact our team anytime for friendly advice tailored to your unique situation.

You could increase your home’s value by 16%

Simply improving your property’s EPC rating could be the way forward. This is because many buyers are starting to focus their search on greener, energy-efficient homes.

This new buying trend may partly be the result of the government’s push to meet the UK’s target of becoming Net Zero by 2050. To achieve this worthy goal, most residential properties would need to reach an energy rating of C or above by 2035.

In the future, buying a low-rated home could mean having to accept tougher mortgage rates, which, combined with rising fuel costs, makes this prospect less desirable.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that savvy buyers are keeping an eye out for features such as air source heat pumps, PV solar panels, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and EV chargers, to name a few.

Properties for sale that are costly to run, or less environmentally friendly could see more buyers attempting to chip away at the asking price to factor in improvements they’ll eventually want to make. Likewise, eco-homes are starting to benefit from the ‘green price premium’.

If you’d like to learn more about how investing in energy efficiency measures could affect the value of your home, contact us. As your local property specialists, we're happy to help.

We’re also on hand to match buyers with greener properties – let us know your requirements today!

*According to a recent Rightmove analysis of over 200,000 homes.

Remembering Queen Elizabeth II

On Thursday 8 September, when we heard that HM The Queen had died, we felt the ground shift a little under us. A constant in our lives had passed and we were entering a new era.

The Queen was the only monarch that many of us had ever known. We had seen or learned of her service during the war, celebrated her jubilees, and listened to her on Christmas Day. These, and many other touchpoints - including her image on our stamps and the notes in our wallets...

Click here to read Remembering Queen Elizabeth II.