Wind Farms: Friend or Foe to a home buyer?

Wind turbines  are on the increase and  this is of no surprise when the  UK is known to be one of the best locations for wind power in the world. 

The UK is ranked as the world's sixth largest producer of wind power, having recently overtaken France and Italy. 

Wind power delivers a growing fraction of the energy in the United Kingdom and at the beginning of January 2014, wind power in the United Kingdom consisted of 5,276 wind turbines.

The odds of encountering one of these turbines or a planing application for one to be installed are increasing.  The importance of identifying the location of a turbine and of any planning application when moving home  has now therefore become a feature of the legal due diligence involved when buying a new home. 

Your conveyancing lawyer needs to make sure the environmental search result covers wind energy and to ensure you are altered if there is a turbine in the immediate vicinity of the property you are looking to purchase. Your advisor should also recommend a planning search to see if there is any application before the council for the installation of a turbine.   This is not a standard search and therefore you should always ask your lawyer to carry one out if wind farm activity is a concern. 

Buying a property in the immediate vicinity of the property could affect the value and if you are borrowing money your lawyer will be required to report the finding to your lender.  This is because the valuation on which the loan offer could be affected. More to the point its not advisable to purchase a property which you may then have problems re-selling in the future. 

So why would a turbine in close proximity have impact on the value of the property?

Visual Impact

Some people like the sight of a turbine but many others find the turbine a ‘turn off’. 

Lighting 

If the turbine is over 200 feet in height it has to have a light attached.  This could be a static or flashing light.  It could be viewed by some as a nuisance. 

The flickering of light caused by the wings of the turbine as they turn can also create a nuisance for those living in close vicinity especially in bright and sunny weather. 

Noise

The turbine does emit a noise.  The impact of this depends on the terrain, the direction of the wind, and the wind pattern.  The noise resembles that of a refrigerator and can travel for several hundred feet.  It commonly considered that those living more than half a mile away are unlikely to be troubled by the emission of noise. 

Health 

There is no evidence that turbines are likely to have a direct affect on health. 

However a 2008 guest editorial in Environmental Health Perspectives published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, stated: "Even seemingly clean sources of energy can have implications on human health. Wind energy will undoubtedly create noise, which increases stress, which in turn increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Lawyers are not environmental experts nor are they valuers; their duty is to make the client aware of the existence of the turbine and advise a client to discuss the implications of its location and proximity with a surveyor as well as an environmental expert so as to ensure an informed decision is made before the client commits to the purchase. 

Morgan Jones and Pett are solicitors who provide legal advice and services to clients based in England and Wales and who can be contacted on 01603877000 or via email at davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

Is October 2012 the right time to introduce new building regulations?

Though there is little written on the subject it seems that by October of this year we will all be paying more for home extensions and improvements.   

It is expected that those undertaking home extensions, loft conversions or integral garage conversions will be required, and not given any choice, to undertake ‘consequential’ energy efficiency improvements in other parts of their property.

Upon implementation this may mean having to find the money to implement measures such as fitting a new boiler or solid wall insulation, up to a limit of, or even beyond, a value of 10% of the cost of the extension or conversion works.

If you are thinking of only replacing a boiler or (some or all) windows this likely to trigger  a mandatory  requirement to install one, some or all of loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, hot water cylinder insulation and draught proofing.

The impact of these requirements could be significant when you consider with information supplied by the DCGL that every year there are around 200,000 domestic extensions, loft conversions and integral garage conversions, one million homes have windows replaced and 1.4 million boilers are replaced.

If you are thinking of making changes now is to the time or you could find making and paying for changes beyond the scope of their planned building works.

The aim is admirable - implementing cost effective changes will help reduce carbon emissions and save on energy bills.  However at a time when the economy is running on empty is the timing of this right?   Are we ready for more red tape, extra costs and will not in fact put off people from carrying out home extensions and how will this impact on the building and other related industries.  Time will only tell.

Morgan Jones and Pett are solicitors who provide legal advice and services to clients based in England and Wales and who can be contacted on 01603877000 or via email at davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

What is the Green Deal?

What is the Green Deal?

This is scheduled for introduction in autumn of this year, and will enable accredited retailers such as Tesco and B&Q to supply, without no upfront cost, quality assured services to homeowners and businesses looking to improve the energy efficiency of their property.

The full cost of the measures will be recovered through instalments on the energy bill over several years, and because the Green Deal is not a personal loan or an advance payment scheme, there is no obligation to continue paying the instalments when the owner moves home.

Qualification for the scheme depends on a simple calculation, known as the “golden rule”– whereby the predicted savings from the energy efficiency improvements to the property must equal or exceed the cost of installation.

How will it work?

Those wishing to participate in the Green Deal will require a full property assessment carried out by an independent and fully accredited advisor.  This initial consultation will provide householders and business owners with an opportunity to learn about the current energy performance of their properties and the specific measures which they would have access to under the Green Deal to improve this performance.

If it assessed that the homeowner or business owner qualifies (see above) then a comprehensive quote, clearly breaking down the total cost of energy efficiency installations for your property, the size of repayment instalments attached to utility bills, and the estimated length of the repayment period will be issued. 

This will be supervised by the accredited advisor who carried out the survey and the work will only be financed if it is carried out by approved Green Deal installers.

How will it be financed?

The finance will be through an instalment plan attached to the utility bill and which will be attached to the property rather than the individual.

Although a Green Deal finance plan requested by a homeowner or small business is not a personal loan, it is likely to be considered a fixed term credit arrangement and customers will therefore be protected under the Consumer Credit Act.

How will installation work?

Once a Green Deal finance plan has been approved, installation will be arranged and carried out by certified Green Deal providers. 

Will the Green Deal help to save money in the long term?

Only time and a track record will tell!

The current language used by the Government suggests they are also not sure of the probable outcome of the measures.   Upon being pushed by a commentator on this subject the Department of Energy and Climate Change stated: "[People] should still save money compared to what it would have cost to heat their home in that way without a Green Deal."

How will the Homeowner and Business Owner be able to monitor and track progress once the initial application of interest is registered?

We are currently working on a tracking system which can be used by the home owner and business owner to record and track key stages within the process and to create at the end of the procedure a property log book for transferring the records and information to the next owner.

For further information on the Green Deal feel free to email me

David Pett

Morgan Jones and Pett are solicitors who provide legal advice and services to clients based in England and Wales and who can be contacted on 01603877000 or via email at davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk

New energy rules for those selling and buying homes

The rules on the display of energy ratings (Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)) for homes have changed.

Those advertising property such as estate agents must now (as from the 6th April) :

• Include the 1st page of the EPC for all sales and lettings properties in printed and electronic property particulars.

• Have ordered an EPC prior to marketing and to produce  it within 7 days of marketing

If you are looking to market or let your property it is important for you to make sure your agent is complying with these requirements. 

Your agent must include a copy of the entire front page of the EPC document and not just the EPC graph as has currently been the case.  This includes any literature containing particulars of the property to be marketed including electronic communications such as emails.

Property particulars are defined as including at least two of the following elements:

• a photograph of the building or any room in the building,
• a floor plan of the building,
• the size of the rooms in the building,
• the measured area of the building, or,
• the proposed rent in relation to a building being rented out,.

This may therefore (depending on how the new rules are interpreted) extend to the pictures and particulars of your home that appear in the agent’s window or in the local paper.  As for rentals the new rules seem must clearer and there seems no getting away from the requirement to display in any advertisement the front page of the EPC.

Almost all lettings adverts will include a property photo and the rental price, and thus it will be hard to avoid this.

The size of the EPC extract shown in the particulars must be sufficient for the details to be read – don’t allow the agent to print it very small nor to try and circumvent the rules by simply adding a link to the EPC.

Interestingly the first page of the EPC contains the full address of the property.   Agents do not normally like to display the full address in literature as this provides marketing opportunities for competitors.   Unfortunately there now seems no way around it and the address must remain within the published first page of the EPC.

What about properties appearing on agent’s websites?  Arguably as there is a picture of the property and often other particulars such as room sizes etc the first page of the EPC ought to be reproduced possibly in full rather than through clicking on a link.  

Rightmove it is reported recently emailed all of its agent clients and made the claim as quoted below:

"Rightmove is a property advertising website and the information displayed on Rightmove by all our member agents takes the form of property adverts and not property particulars. This is clearly stated at the bottom of every page on Rightmove that displays the details which have been provided to us by the agent about a specific property and will continue to do so.

It is our view that the new regulations do not place any additional obligations on Rightmove, although you may wish to consider separately how the new regulations might affect your own company website. We do, however, understand that some of our member agents may wish to display the EPC as part of the property advert on Rightmove. Rightmove does provide the functionality for you to do this if you so wish."

I do not necessarily agree that is correct; looking at the new rules and the elements that must exist for the publication of the EPC it is difficult to see how one can in this way distinguish ‘adverts’ from publication of property particulars.  Rightmove publishes pictures and particulars of property and this is no different from details published in newspapers or in an agent’s window.

Let’s not forget the purpose that lies behind the rules, and that is those looking for a property to buy should be able when searching to have immediate access to the energy rating for that property.

The problem is that as with the fated Home Information Pack some agents are reluctant to go to the expense of ordering and paying for an EPC until they know a buyer has been found for the property.  They view these requirements as an unnecessary hurdle to the marketing of the property.

My advice to those selling and renting is to always ensure that any agreement reached with an agent to sell or rent you home includes a clause that the agent orders and pays for the EPC. If you are buying always insist on seeing the EPC before viewing a property and if the EPC’s first page does not appear in the particulars of sale wherever these might appear always ask for an explanation.

Morgan Jones and Pett are solicitors who provide legal advice and services to clients based in England and Wales and who can be contacted on 01603877000 or via email at davidpett@m-j-p.co.uk