Householders are angered by the discovery they cannot remortgage or sell their homes after installing spray-foam insulation to cut energy use.
The insulation was supposedly improperly installed. There, saved you a click.
I looked into spray foam insulation but not only were there lots of risks, but it was more expensive than traditional warm roof insulation with PIR boards or similar. I do think people should research what they put in their own homes as it wasn't hard to find information that ruled out spray foam insulation fairly quickly.
Having said that, there is clearly some sort of regulatory gap here as not being able to mortgage your home is a very serious consequence of a relatively small and seemingly innocuous home improvement decision.
They accuse ministers of washing their hands of the consequences after they insisted that it was the responsibility of traders and owners to decide whether to proceed with the work, and that the availability of mortgages is a matter for lenders.
Spray foam is still legal, so there is no way to gain compensation, and the industry is not regulated – neither the installation nor the removal – so choices are open to abuse by companies supplying these services.”
Homeowners say they were misled by the government, which exempted the insulation from VAT to promote uptake, as well as issuing grants worth up to two thirds of the installation costs. They feel this suggested the insulation was being endorsed.
Sounds like a “well there’s your problem” situation.
