Major lenders reject houses with spray foam insulation | EUROtoday

Homeowners are struggling to promote or remortgage as some main lenders are rejecting properties with spray foam insulation, the BBC has discovered.

1 / 4 of the UK’s largest mortgage suppliers won’t lend towards houses with spray foam within the roof, our analysis suggests.

It is estimated as many as 250,000 houses within the UK have this sort of insulation, with a lot of it fitted beneath the earlier authorities’s Green Homes Grant scheme.

“We were blissfully unaware of any issues to do with it until we put the house on the market,” mentioned Wendy Rowe, whose household struggled to promote her late father’s house and paid hundreds to have the insulation eliminated.

Some mortgage corporations are reluctant to cope with houses with spray foam insulation resulting from considerations over poor becoming leaving moisture trapped and roof timbers liable to decay.

But the Insulation Manufacturers Association mentioned spray foam will be useful if correctly put in, and it was frightened householders may very well be needlessly pushed to “cowboy” removals firms.

Ms Rowe instructed the BBC that when her father Alan Chawner was provided spray foam insulation in his loft, he thought it could make his ex-council property in Leicester hotter and minimize his vitality payments.

As a pensioner who claimed the attendance allowance, your complete £4,331 price of the set up was coated by the Green Homes Grant scheme, which ran in England till 31 March 2021.

However, the work was lower than scratch, in accordance with a report by Stephen Hodgson, the previous boss of the Property Care Association (PCA) who now inspects properties with spray foam and trains surveyors.

After gross sales stalled and troublesome conversations with lenders, Ms Rowe agreed to switch the roof solely, splitting the price of practically £10,000 with new patrons.

She mentioned it has price the household hundreds extra in surveyors’ and property agent charges and utility payments.

The agency that put in the spray foam, SealSixty, gave the household £400 as a gesture of goodwill and mentioned the work met all the necessities set out by the Green Homes Grant scheme on the time.

Ms Rowe mentioned that her household had been “left high and dry”.

“It was installed under a government initiative, and you really don’t expect them to turn their back,” she mentioned.

Spray foam insulation has been used to cease warmth escaping from roofs, lofts and attics for many years and is available in two kinds.

Closed cell spray foam is inflexible as soon as set. It is a greater thermal insulator and was beforehand bought to stabilise failing roofs. But if it has been used inappropriately or put in poorly, it’d put stress on timbers, prohibit air circulation and put them liable to decaying.

Open cell spray foam stays mushy as soon as set and is just used for insulation. It is extra breathable however is commonly put in the place a highly-resistant underlay like bitumen felt is already current, stopping vapour from escaping.

While a current report by the Health and Safety Executive highlighted conditions the place utilizing open cell was low-risk, it cautioned towards making use of it on to roof tiles.

The nature of spray foam could make it difficult for valuers performing on behalf of lenders to examine the situation of roof timbers.

When the BBC contacted the 20 largest lenders within the UK5 – together with TSB Bank, Skipton Building Society, Co-operative Bank, Principality and fairness launch lender Aviva – mentioned they didn’t lend towards properties the place spray foam is discovered within the roof house.

The Yorkshire Building Society and Metro Bank mentioned they might not often lend the place there’s a important quantity of spray foam.

Equity launch supplier More 2 Life instructed the BBC it’s going to solely lend on properties with spray foam the place it was fitted as a part of an authorised new construct and has the mandatory documentation.

Other lenders resembling Lloyds, Nationwide, Barclaysthe NatWest Group and Santander have mentioned they contemplate purposes on a case-by-case foundation, and can take a valuer’s report into consideration.

They might, nonetheless, ask householders for documentation exhibiting it has been put in appropriately or for a specialist report back to be carried out.

In 2023, the PCA printed an inspection protocol in a bid to assist surveyors and lenders assess any potential threat in pitched roofs.

But householders like Gary Wright really feel like they’ve been “left in limbo”.

When his two-year fixed-rate mortgage was up for renewal, he hoped to discover a higher fee.

But when he utilized he was shocked to find open cell spray foam had been put in in 2009. It had not come up throughout surveys when he had purchased the home.

He determined to take away a lot of the foam within the loft himself, after receiving a number of costly quotes.

A surveyor nonetheless really helpful a full roof report and Mr Wright felt he needed to renew his mortgage along with his present lender at a much less preferable fee.

“We know that in the next two years, we need to get this fixed, and I can’t afford to right now,” he mentioned.

“This phrase ‘spray foam’ has created fear [among lenders] based on a lack of knowledge,” Simon Storer, chief government of the Insulation Manufacturers Association, instructed the BBC.

He urged “hares were set running” by earlier trade steering that has since been withdrawn.

“Insulating is a very good thing,” he mentioned, including: “But as with any building work, it needs to be done correctly”.

He mentioned the organisation was additionally involved about unregulated firms concentrating on older, doubtlessly susceptible, householders pushing them to pay for an overpriced elimination service throughout chilly calls.

The Homeowners Alliance (HOA) doesn’t suggest putting in spray foam till points with lenders and rogue merchants are resolved.

For houses the place it’s already current, the HOA recommends:

• Checking you’ve got all of the related documentation, together with a product certificates, installer guarantee, earlier than and after pictures, a survey report and a product guarantee
• Contacting the installer or producer to see if you will get a free “health check”
• Considering an unbiased evaluation by a certified spray foam surveyor

A authorities spokesperson mentioned it had “consulted lenders about this matter who say they rely on the views of valuers and surveyors on this issue”.

They added any measures fitted beneath authorities schemes should be achieved by a Trustmark-registered installer “to the highest standards with issues promptly and properly rectified”.

Further data on Trustmark’s dispute decision course of will be discovered right here.