‘Stop sale of homes if they are draughty’

DRAUGHTY homes should be banned from sale unless owners improve their energy efficiency, government-funded scientists have urged.

The UK Energy Research Centre said owners of homes with low energy efficiency ratings should be forced to make improvements such as better insulation in lofts and walls, and upgrading boilers before being allowed to sell.

Such measures would reduce Britain’s energy bills by £7.5billion by 2035 and save the equivalent output of six new nuclear power plants, they said. The Government was expected to publish a Clean Growth Plan in the next few weeks, in which such a target-driven policy for housing efficiency, similar to the ban on new petrol and diesel cars, should be included, they said.

Scotland and France are already considering banning the sale of homes that do not meet certain standards. By law, home sellers must advertise the energy efficiency of their property to let buyers know how high they can expect bills to be. Properties are ranked from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient), and assessments are valid for 10 years.

Nick Eyre, professor of energy and climate policy at the University of Oxford, who authored the report, said the most effective measure would be to tell home owners “you can’t sell a house until it reaches a certain level of efficiency”.

But Paula Higgins, chief executive at the Homeowners Alliance, which represents home owners, warned such a policy would encourage sellers to make home upgrades “on the cheap” which may not work.

She said: “This could be a real barrier for those who want to sell but do not have a lot of spare cash to make improvements. It could especially penalise downsizers and growing families upgrading to a larger home which is discounted in price as it is in need of modernisation.”