Senility is catching up on me! In my previous post on the Green Deal I meant to make mention of the up-front assessment fee and the likely interest rate. By the time that my fingers had started hitting the keyboard I completely forgotten that I was going to comment on these aspects (maybe I was dwelling too much on the gin and tonic with which I was going to reward myself).
Whatever, a post by Rod Janssen has now reminded me. Rod's post, or rather the Observer article he quotes, pretty much covers what I was going to say which is that both the factors outlined above are additional brakes on Green Deal uptake. For anyone with a slightly complicated proposal, or a marginal one, the assessment fee of anywhere between £99 and £175 could be a significant disincentive. And the quoted interest rates - seemingly in a range from 6.5% to 9% - are hardly enticing. If you've got enough equity in your propoerty it would probably be cheaper to extend your mortgage (at, perhaps, 5%). Why go down the Green Deal route, paying more and, as the Observer article points out, possibly having further hassle if and when you sell your property?
One final thought - why is everyone so quiet about ECO?
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