
"More on the Green Deal for landlords"
Landlords who carry out work to upgrade buy to let properties under the Green Deal could be paying out up to £1,000 in ‘referral’ fees wrapped up in the price of the work.
The National EPC Company has recruited James Dodd as regional development director with a brief to encourage letting agents to earn commission from tipping the company’s One Green Deal division about landlords requiring work highlighted in energy performance certificates.
Referral fees reportedly range from £100 to £1,000, depending on the work carried out, according to letting agent and estate agent trade news provider The Negotiator.
The service is aimed at working with landlords and home owners to improve their energy performance rating by financing the work through grants offered under the government’s Green Deal.
The Green Deal is the government’s energy saving strategy to make homes warmer and cheaper to run, starting in 2012.
The plan offers landlords and homeowners up to £10,000 to pay for energy related upgrades. The money is paid as a grant repaid over a number of years through savings on energy bills, providing the estimated savings directly related to the work come to more than the cost.
“The Green Deal will be the biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War shifting our outdated draughty homes from the past into the future, so it is vital people can trust it. I have heard too many cases of shoddy workmanship or dodgy technology from Government schemes in the past so from day one there will be strict rules about standards,” Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has said.
Dodd told The Negotiator: “A lot of people are focused on delivering solar panels because of the big margins, but that’s not our approach. We’ll look at the opportunities, which our guys have been trained to recognise.”