Plans to cut the cost of new homes by scrapping energy efficiency rules risk overlooking failures to build properties to existing standards, a snagging specialist has warned.
As revealed on Property Soup elsewhere today the Conservatives have proposed abolishing the Future Homes Standard as part of a wider package of deregulation which the party says could reduce the cost of new-build homes by as much as £50,000.
The standard is due to come into force in England from March 2027 and will require new homes to use low-carbon heating and meet higher levels of energy efficiency. Gas boilers will not meet the required performance standard.
The Conservatives argue that removing regulations including the Future Homes Standard would reduce development costs and ultimately make new homes cheaper.
BUILD QUALITY
However, Tom Britton (main picture), Founder of new homes snagging company HomeSnag, says attention should first be paid to whether developers are meeting standards already in place.
He says: “Before replacing new-build energy standards, the focus should be on making sure homes are actually being built to the standards already required.
“We regularly inspect new-build homes where thermal imaging reveals missing or poorly installed insulation and significant draughts, all of which undermine the energy efficiency those homes were designed to achieve.”
Britton says HomeSnag recently inspected a property marketed as “net zero” where it found significant draughts around the front door, gaps in loft insulation and a major bathroom leak.
He adds: “Whatever standards are set, they only work if the developers deliver them in practice.”
FUTURE HOMES
The Future Homes and Buildings Standards were confirmed by the Government in March and are being implemented through changes to the Building Regulations.
They are designed to ensure new homes have low-carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency so they will not require retrofitting to become zero-carbon in use as the electricity grid decarbonises.
