What is a Green Mortgage?

30 years ago we had never thought of or heard of Green Mortgages but now they are becoming more common.

All borrowers like lower, attractive interest rates and now some lenders are starting to offer discounted mortgage rates for eco-friendly properties.  Usually, you would expect a Green Mortgage enquiry from a person buying a ‘New Build’ as many developers now market environmentally friendly properties.

That said, with the UK signing the Paris Climate Agreement to be carbon neutral by 2050 and now the UK government pushing to be 78% carbon neutral by 2035 and fully carbon neutral by 2040, more incentives will be offered by government for us to buy electric vehicles and make our homes more efficient with grants for new eco heating systems, loft, wall and floor insulation, triple glazing and more.

That said, for most property owners, we are buying older properties that are not eco-friendly yet.  The clue is to look at the Energy Performance Certificate (all properties for sale must have one) to see where improvements can be made.

Both homeowners and landlords (if buy to let) should consider:

• Insulation for roofing, walls and floors (unless solid floors already).
• Energy efficient room heating and ideally have these with timer switches etc so that power is only used when you need it and the temperature for most rooms set to know more than 20-21 degrees Celsius.
• Do have options for wind energy, solar energy or indeed latent ground heat as a source of cleaner energy?
• Additional, extra thick lagging for pies and water tanks.
• Swapping curtains for insulating blinds.
• Timer switches for all electrical items .e.g. don’t leave your TV on standby.
• Long life, low energy bulbs.