BER to B2 for cheaper mortgage

tipping

Currently living in 2001 built bungalow with attic conversion. BER was C1 (157.28 (kWh/m2/yr)) prior to attic conversion in 2018 which was completed to full standards at the time. It's actually pretty easy to heat but I'd like to get it to B2 (by spending as little as possible) to avail of much cheaper green mortgage rates from our provider without the hassle of switching etc. What would be the best approach to take here?

Would getting a new BER tell me enough of what I need to get it to B2 or would I have to engage an energy consultant etc? Any advise would be greatly appreciated?

DaCor

Whatever you decide to do, you'll need to do it soon. Mortgages are on the rise and only going to go higher.

It may be worth more to you to switch now and carry out improvements later as you could likely get a mortgage switch done in 2 months whereas doing work on the house might take 6-12 months depending on the availability of materials & contractors (if you're not doing the work yourself)

Do the sums and see what makes most sense

ec_pc

If you are talking about AIB, I fixed on their green mortgage recently from a variable rate with them. Very simple only took a week or 2, but they did say there was a backlog of 13 working days due to the volume of requests coming into them. Lots of people seem to be fixing.

Dag12

I am in the same boat, plan to move up from C1 to B2 or more. One of recommendations BER assessor gave was to update my boiler to a mor efficient one (90%+). That alone was going to bring BER to B3. I am getting technical assessment with one of one stop shops, I can post update here later on.

raxy

Avant have a rate of 1.95 % which is better than the green rates (I thought I seen 1.9% advertised but it didn't show on bonkers.ie)

Would you not be better off switching to avant instead of spending all that on reducing your BER?

You could still do the upgrades anyway if there needed obviously but not really necessary for the lower rate mortgage.

raxy

Do banks get a tax incentive for offering green rate mortgages? It doesn't make sense to me that they are offering much better rates for green mortgages but not for others. If they aren't getting incentives why are the green rates just their normal mortgage rate?

Take EBS, 2.1 % for a green rate vs 2.75 for their best normal fixed rate.

DaCor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118996536#Comment_118996536

Lenders, financial institutions, asset managers, investment firms etc etc etc all across the globe are moving trillions away from fossil fuels and towards energy efficiency, renewable, sustainable etc.

Part of that is providing worse rates for things not aligned with this and better rates for those that are.

You're going to see this becoming a bigger thing as time goes on to the point where it'll be difficult to buy something that would have a F or G BER rating

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118996982#Comment_118996982

That is a shame as a poor BER score has little bearing on a home's carbon intensity. Plenty of Bs and A are inefficient ice boxes with dodgy BER reports, no BER reports or genuine BER reports with scores inflated by solar panels. Also, home inefficiency has little bearing on consumption as many people are highly cold tolerant. Furthermore, energy is a small bill for basically every household.

I'd suggest downloading DEAP and play around with your report.

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119000189#Comment_119000189

Yellow_Fern

I agree with your quote-

Plenty of Bs and A are inefficient ice boxes with dodgy BER reports, no BER reports….

Inefficient Ice Box 📦 ☃️☃️☃️☃️☃️☃️

I totally agree with you. Home owners with A’ and B’s and complaining that the house is cold.

This is caused by Heat Loss either by Conduction or Convection. If it is decided to Insulate to reduce the heat loss by Conduction, then the first thing to do is to reduce all the heat loss by Convection (draughts), before any decision is reached to insulate.

We ain’t seen nothing yet.

In a few years time we will have another hugh home owners quagmire and the Government will again have to foot the bills, and rightly so.

Presently in England the government have to foot the bill for approx 2 million homes with botched cavity fill by Expert Dimwits, because of the terrible ingress of rainwater and rising dampness which is causing dampness on the inner surface of the walls by botched Cavity Fill. Not to mention the mental stress of the families, ongoing for years. And the 40 year Guarantee can now be used as toilet paper 🧻.

These Expert Dimwits have no proper knowledge of Construction and Building Science - but are brilliant salespersons.

In Ireland we have BER Assessors who do not understand the construction of buildings and have little practical knowledge of Building Science.

In Ireland we now have Retrofit SEAI/FÁS trained External Thermal Insulation Experts. These Experts were either “ReSkilled” 😂😂 or “UpSkilled” 😂😂😂 by FÁS. (The blind leading the blind comes to mind). Many of these course Syllabus are completed in FÁS by all the Doctors. Dr this and Dr that, and most of them never set foot on a Building Site.

Don’t be asking these Experts about Heat Loss by Convection- 😂😂😂😂

This vote catching Retrofit knee jerk reactions are the brains child of Martin and Ryan and O’Brien et al.

The damage to homes and families that will be unleashed by these FÁS upskilled and reskilled 😂 Insulation Experts - to homes and families- will be long lasting for many years. At an initial cost of approx €30,000 a home.

Any Retrofitting of any building/ home should only be carried out under the supervision of a Construction Professional (CP) with PI Insurance, who will, on completion, furnish a Certificate of Compliance that all the Works were carried out in accordance with the Building Regulations.

Unfortunately, in Ireland these CP’s only get involved after the damage becomes apparent and the Government who caused it are in the Costa Del Sol living on their Vast Pensions. (Closing the stable 🚪 long after the horse has bolted).

These FÁS Retrofitting Expert Insulation Installers will advise all the home owners that “ The Best Thing To Do” 😂😂 is to fit External Wall Insulation (EWI). These Experts will not know or won’t want to know if the Cavity in the wall is filled.

If the cavity is not filled and is open at some parts at the top, the Ventilated Cavity will allow the heat loss from the house escape from the vented cavity, and the €30,000 of EWI will be waiting outside- redundant wondering “When is the Heat Loss going to come out to us, it must come out as we have an ‘A’ BER Cert” 😓🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶☃️☃️

You couldn’t make this up, and the Happily Ever After is Only for the Insulation Experts and the Government.

☃️☃️☃️☃️☃️☃️☃️

tipping

Apologies for the delayed replies.

After looking into this in a bit more detail. I'm with BOI who it seems don't offer mortgage discounts to existing customers for energy upgrades unless you take out a top up mortgage to cover the upgrades (and then they only apply the discount to the topped up portion)

So the better/only option is to switch but as one of us has recently moved jobs that would probably be less than straightforward.

Currently my plan is to try to break and re-fix with BOI at 3% for 5 years (as indeed I do see interest rates increasing in the near term) as an interim measure and investigate switching mortgage next year if the rates are still lower.

raxy

I would go to a broker to ask qbout switching. Just because you moved jobs does not mean they won't lend to you.

If you lost your job & had to find another then maybe but if the move is job progression then you'll more than likely be able to switch.

It can't hurt to try. 1.95 vs 3% will make a big difference in interest.

DaCor

You can definitely do better than 3%, as suggested, go talk to a broker