Chris Seeks Feedback On The Viability & Liability Of Heat Pumps For Homeowners
Chair: We will get Chris Chope to ask one very short question to finish.
Q181 Sir Christopher Chope: I would like to ask Mr Ayers to start off with whether he believes that the mortgage lenders are wrong to withdraw mortgages from 250,000 homes.
Simon Ayers: We are talking about spray foam?
Sir Christopher Chope: Yes, exactly.
Simon Ayers: In terms of spray foam, I can only make a comment on what I have seen in the 6,000 that we know about. Where they are incorrectly installed, that roof should be remediated, absolutely, and I can understand why you would then be nervous about a mortgage on that property. There are instances where the correct foam has been installed and there are surveyors who can be engaged through RICS and the Property Care Association. Some of the lenders will accept their reports.
Q182 Sir Christopher Chope: Who pays for that?
Simon Ayers: At the moment it would be the homeowner who would be paying for that. If it is a complaint through our programme, we will push that back through the scheme provider, which is the Property Care Association, and we would look at how that is funded.
Q183 Sir Christopher Chope: Can I ask all of you about the issue relating to the preparation for these schemes? I think anybody listening to the evidence today would not touch a heat pump installation with a barge pole, for all sorts of reasons, including the issue around whether or not insulation is needed and other adaptations to the house. We have conflicting evidence. For example, Mike Foster, the Chief Executive of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, has said that heat pumps are unsuitable for 54% of homes currently using gas boilers. Other people say that almost every house needs to be adequately insulated, and yet there are issues around the extent of such insulation.
Isn’t the first thing to ensure that before anybody puts in a heat pump, there has been a proper survey of the house, there has been a proper specification, they have been told what the heating qualities of the house are and there is a guarantee as to what they will be after that installation? It is no good just installing a heat pump and then some time after the event saying, “It does not meet all my specifications”. The Government is—I think commendably—taking some action about all this black mould, but if you install a heat pump and then you get black mould, are you going to be able to prove that it is because you had an inadequate specification in the first place?
