Families should be blocked from selling their homes if they fail to meet minimum energy efficiency standards, under radical proposals from a Conservative think-tank. Households should also be forced to install measures such as insulation or new boilers when they carry out other home improvement works, under the proposals from Bright Blue. The tough new regulations to tackle draughty homes should be accompanied by new schemes to help households afford the required upgrades, such as ‘Help to Improve’ loans and ISAs akin to the Help to Buy home ownership schemes, the think-tank suggests in a report. It argues that the Government “urgently needs to take steps to incentivise improvements to households’ energy consumption”, following the failure of the Green Deal loans scheme, which was supposed to enco urage millions of households to improve their homes but was scrapped last year after just 14,000 households signed up. Bright Blue is backed by senior Conservatives including Lord Barker, the former energy minister who spearheaded the Green Deal, Lord Howard, the former Tory leader, and defeated London mayoral candidate Zac Goldmith MP.
Telegraph 31st Aug 2016 read more »