NaCSBA has signed up to a letter calling for a new Energy Saving Stamp Duty Incentive to drive the need for improved sustainability in homes, both new and retrofitting.
The new scheme would provide a long-term and – importantly – revenue neutral driver, targeted at owner occupiers not in fuel poverty, a group that collectively represents 12% of the UK’s emissions.
In the last decade we’ve become more reliant on imported gas with its associated vulnerabilities, whilst the emissions from our 29 million UK homes over the last six years now accounts for 20% of UK carbon emissions.
The Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group (EEIG)’s proposal for a Stamp Duty incentive would complement wider initiatives, such as the extra funding for heat pumps set out in the Spending Review, but offers a broader structure to broker wider change.
The key to the scheme is to avoid short-term grants for specific technologies, but rather to persuade homeowners to undertake their own improvements in return for Stamp Duty relief. This would then enable financial measures by government to be directed to those that need them.
Industry support
The proposal for an Energy Saving Stamp Duty Incentive has been widely supported, with NaCSBA joining a range of groups, from consumer finance to builders.
Such an incentive would, with time, secure change at scale, as energy efficiency measures become part of every level of the housing purchase – and building – process. This then creates an agenda for change, with buyers aware of and considering the potential, scope and costs of greening their homes.
The letter states:
“An Energy Saving Stamp Duty Incentive is not a silver bullet – and we are not suggesting that any rebate should cover the full cost of works that might be needed. We are, however, proposing a rebate significant enough to get homebuyers’ attention and create the conditions for homeowners and purchasers to invest in, and improve, their own homes.”
David Adams, EEIG spokesman comments, “Government should focus on how people could be rewarded for saving energy. Circa one million homes change hands in the UK every year. Stamp Duty already exists and, for owner occupiers that have means or access to finance, an Energy Saving Stamp Duty Incentive would complement or sit comfortably alongside a grant programme whilst also being revenue neutral. It could be transformational.”
