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Lender criteria needs ‘careful thinking’ to be more sustainable – Halifax Intermediaries video debate

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  • 12/05/2022
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Lender criteria needs ‘careful thinking’ to be more sustainable – Halifax Intermediaries video debate
Lenders need to “think carefully” about their criteria if they are to support environmental change, Andy Mason, head of strategic partnerships and housing at Lloyds Banking Group has said.

 

Speaking on a Mortgage Solutions video debate in association with Halifax Intermediaries, Mason said that additions to homes, like solar panels, have “tended to create problems from a valuation perspective”. 

Not all lenders will currently lend on a property with leased or rented solar panels. Those who do consider it require further detail around financial responsibilities, such as whether the panels will be considered part of the property within the sale, or seen as the previous owners’ property in a similar vein to furniture. 

Mason believes attitudes toward greener renovations need to be changed. He added: “They’re viewed quite negatively, and I think if we are genuinely to drive a sustainable agenda, we need to think carefully about our lending criteria on things especially like solar panels. They need to be viewed more positively.  

“We want more people to do this, so they are energy self-sufficient. If our lending doesn’t catch up with sustainable activities and sustainable improvements, that’s going to be a problem.”

 

 

The advice process 

Kevin Roberts, director of Legal and General Mortgage Club, said conversations around a property’s energy efficiency tend to occur later on in the advice process. 

However, he said that was shifting, saying: “What we’re seeing is the property risk coming much more to the fore of the research journey.” 

Roberts believes that working towards energy efficiency presents a “real opportunity” for brokers, especially those with landlord clients who are up against the EPC deadline to improve the sustainability of rental homes. 

He added: “I’ve seen real innovation with some of our firms around using these kinds of messages to keep abreast [of energy efficiency] while a customer is in a five-year fixed, and to keep those marketing messages coming.” 

 

Watch the video embedded [8:10] hosted by Shekina Tuahene, commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions, featuring Andy Mason, head of strategic partnerships and housing at Lloyds Banking Group, Bukky Bird, group sustainability director at Barratt Developments and Kevin Roberts, director of Legal and General Mortgage Club.   

 

Sponsored content in association with Halifax and Lloyds Banking Group. For Intermediary Use Only 

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