Speaking on a HSBC UK video debate in association with Mortgage Solutions, Michael Kallaras, managing director of Green Mortgages, said the suggested rules were still just proposals.
He added: “There needs to be clarification from the government as to the landlords’ position. We do need to know what, when, how, why and where so that landlords can take the practical measures and steps to correct the rental sector.”
Tracie Burton, senior corporate account manager at HSBC UK, agreed and said once the proposals were “set in stone”, people would begin to act.
She said while no rules had officially come in yet, it was important not to “bury our heads in the sand” and wait for the government to “crack its whip”. Burton said people should put action in place sooner rather than later, as it was beneficial to make homes more efficient.
Kallaras said retrofitting seemed like an expensive task at first, but there were smaller actions landlords could take “in preparation for a potential 2025 deadline”.
Recycling homes
Sally Laker, managing director of Mortgage Intelligence, said the word retrofit sounded “industrial and expensive” and suggested describing it as “recycling” instead.
“That’s a word everybody understands… as we’re getting more interested in green and more and more information is coming out to the public sector… why can’t we recycle older homes?”
She also said as some landlords may sell the properties they did not want to retrofit, they could be “recycled”.
“And I think that’s where the industry has to take part,” Laker added.
Daniel Kittow, managing director of Vibrant Energy Matters, said lenders needed to “get with the times”. He said where people upgraded to the latest technology in other parts of life, lenders were happy to continue lending against older properties which were in need of modernising.
He added: “There’s new technology out there and it’s about time we gave our housing stock a facelift.”
Watch the video [8:04] hosted by Shekina Tuahene, commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions, featuring Tracie Burton, senior corporate account manager at HSBC UK, Daniel Kittow, managing director of Vibrant Energy, Sally Laker, managing director of Mortgage Intelligence and Michael Kallaras, managing director of Green Mortgages.
