A Green Home
Oct
26
If you want to build a green home, buy and renovate a derelict building to become a green home, or to adapt your own home to be more green, the chances are you’ll need a mortgage — a loan secured against the property concerned.
Few high street lenders are geared specifically to deal with green projects but many are willing to lend money to buy, build, or renovate a property as you like. Be patient and shop around. Talk to your own lender and if there are objections and obstacles try to negotiate. Lenders are always concerned about the degree of risk they’re taking and whether they’ll get their money back if you can’t keep up the repayments. Talk to a mortgage broker about where to try for a loan if you draw a blank.
You may be able to negotiate a staged loan so that the lender agrees to give you a certain amount of money in total but releases proportions of the total when various stages of the work are complete.
Applying for a green mortgage
Another option is a loan from a lender that offers green mortgages — loans specifically geared for green buildings. A green mortgage is a loan given on a home built or renovated in such a way that it reduces the negative impact it and its occupants have on the environment. Usually a green mortgage is granted only for a home that’s green itself.
Your green mortgage may cost you more than an ordinary mortgage in terms of interest charged.
In some cases when you take on a green mortgage the lender does an audit of the energy efficiency of your home to monitor your household emissions and energy usage. You can benefit from the knowledge that you are causing less damage to the environment, and you can save money on your electricity and gas bills!
You may be able to remortgage your home through a green mortgage if you can convince the lender that your home is green enough or that you will make it green enough.
Getting loans for green conversions
If you need to borrow more money to top up any grant, try borrowing from your bank or building society. The three financial institutions which offer green mortgages (mentioned in the preceding section) may be able to lend for your home improvement, but you may be also able to convince some of the high street lenders to lend for that purpose even though they don’t specifically offer green loans.
Renovating old properties to green properties
Renovating old properties such as barns, lighthouses, or other derelict buildings to make homes is very green. You are using existing sites and in most cases some existing building materials. Lenders of green mortgages — the Ecology Building Society in particular — are very keen on projects that get derelict properties back into use. They see it as a form of recycling. Talk to your own bank or building society about the possibility of a loan for this kind of work and if they turn you down, try the main green lenders.
Doing Without Cash
Money may make the world go round but it isn’t always necessary. You can make things happen without cash and as a result become involved in community-based projects that are more sustainable, ethically sound, and greener than relying on money.
Trading in LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems or Schemes)
LETS are local networks in which people exchange all kinds of goods and services with one another. No money changes hands. LETS are based in local communities and use alternative currencies to the pound. For example, if your skill is in furniture making and you make a table for someone, you get a certain number points in whatever your scheme’s currency is called. You can then use some of those points to pay someone to do some babysitting for you. Schemes like this encourage less buying of new products and more sharing so they make less impact on the environment.
Sharing in time banks
TimeBank is a scheme whereby local people volunteer to share their time and skills. Instead of giving money, use your skills to do something for someone else and deposit your time in the bank. You can then make a withdrawal from the time bank when you need someone to spend time doing something for you. A timekeeper adds up the time spent and matches people up to help as they need it — and no payments change hands.
Everyone’s time is equal: one hour of time earns one time credit to spend when needed regardless of what you spend that hour doing.
You can get more information from TimeBank UK, the national charity that links and supports time banks across the country by providing inspiration, guidance, and practical help. TimeBank appeals to people who know that their time and skills are in demand but just don’t know what to do about it or where to start.
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