Is this the bargain of the century

[anobium]

Double glazing throughout and external insulation for £1

Yes true, that is what the council is charging home owners who bought their

council homes for the above works.

Reason, so I've been told is, as they are carrying out these works on a

council estate, not to do the privately owned houses on the estate would

detract from overall visual improvement of the estate.

Apparently there are in the region of 60 privately owned houses on this

estate, at an estimated cost of £12k this amounts to approx. £720k

Is this the way to spend our council tax money?

 

[JohnD]

where's the link?

 

[anobium]

where's the link?

There isn't one yet, I just happen to know somebody who lives there and is

having it done.

There is also one owner who has just had a 2 storey extension built and he

is having it done
.
Cant give you location as it could backfire, but suffice to say it is in the

North of England with a labour council.

Incidentally I must go on record as saying that in no way do I blame the

householders, I would bite the councils hand off if they gave me the option.

 

[rjm2k]

The council probably have targets to meet for energy reduction, a budget plus fines to be imposed if they don't manage it.

They will presumably have a deal with the contractors to get a good price, a bit like planning where they have to build Association Housing in order to get permission to build.

They also normally put a charge on the property so that the owner can't sell up within 5 years without having to pay the full installation cost back to the council.

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Excellent idea in my opinion, in true maggie style. Buy your house cheap, insulate it cheap. Gawd bless the tories.

I see no problem.

 

[anobium]

The council probably have targets to meet for energy reduction, a budget plus fines to be imposed if they don't manage it

How does this work?

They also normally put a charge on the property so that the owner can't sell up within 5 years without having to pay the full installation cost back to the council

I will have a word with my contact on this point

 

[rjm2k]

How does this work?

EU targets, imposed centrally, imposed locally...

Energy companies have similar obligations

I will have a word with my contact on this point

It will be in the small print, a mate of mine allowed the council to use his back to back as an experiment, they measured various things before and after, put new heating, windows, internal insulation etc in to investigate how to improve the housing without just knocking it all down. He was one of a rare few owner occupiers in the area rather than landlords so it made it easier for them. Quite a bit of work but charge against the house so he's stuck there for another 2 years I think unless he coughs up about 15k.

 

[AronSearle]

I'm not surprised at this, but I think the timing is wrong.

If you buy the whole "carbon" issue, then this is what has to be done.

But I read how 40% of homes still don't have loft insulation or only <10mm of the stuff, even when you could buy rolls for £1 some people just don't care.

There are much cheaper and greater gains to be made their first, before we start hosing money around on expensive stuff like this.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

Two houses in my street both owned by Council have been externally insulated, using EU workers, who could not speak a much of English, I asked them what company they worked for, for some strange reason they were reluctant to divulge any details, but i know the two houses are owned by the local council.

I asked them if they would give me a quote to do mine, but would not divulge their company name or telephone number, took my number promising me that their boss would phone me, but so far nothing, the work is almost completed and all the scaffolding has come down. They are about to move on to next job I guess for another Council owned homes.

I guess the council barred them from publicising their business, no company board, only the scaffolding supplier company board

 

[noseall]

They will have to pay it back over a number of years.

 

[Whitespirit66]

Reason, so I've been told is, as they are carrying out these works on a

council estate, not to do the privately owned houses on the estate would

detract from overall visual improvement of the estate.

Does this mean that residents will now also be banned from using their front gardens to store old fridges and settees.

 

[ajstoneservices]

Reason, so I've been told is, as they are carrying out these works on a

council estate, not to do the privately owned houses on the estate would

detract from overall visual improvement of the estate.

Does this mean that residents will now also be banned from using their front gardens to store old fridges and settees.

No, all the private ones will be forced to display them too.

 

[anobium]

Reason, so I've been told is, as they are carrying out these works on a

council estate, not to do the privately owned houses on the estate would

detract from overall visual improvement of the estate.

Does this mean that residents will now also be banned from using their front gardens to store old fridges and settees.

No, all the private ones will be forced to display them too.

Its actually quite a nice estate, houses are going for sale at around £160k

 

[big-all]

Does this mean that residents will now also be banned from using their front gardens to store old fridges and settees.

thanks for the reminder
to put my old tumble dryer outside for the chaps with the flat bed to see from the road

 

[LargeWrench]

There's a few areas where i am that have had this external insulation done. Frankly, it looks terrible. My dad owns a property on one of the streets and only found out about his property being done when he went round to see his tenant and saw scaffolding had been put up outside his property. The property owners had just had a short letter put through their door stating that if they didn't want it doing they needed to ring the council and opt out. However, this letter was sent out a week before the work was to be commenced. Hence, anyone who was away on holiday at the time or who had a tenant who couldn't be bothered to inform the landlord like in my dad's case, would end up having the work done without their consent. Luckily he found out before it was too late.

Not to mention the work is rather shoddy. The street is a terraced street so it looks a right mess as some houses have opted out, so there's a row of houses all with this 50mm insulation then an odd house every so often without the insulation. Then the firm doing it have simply cut around any objects on the outside wall, sky dishes and services into the property e.t.c. Looks a right mess. Rather than moving them and re-fixing them again they've simply cut around them. Apparently it's costing £50 million to do the areas that are having it done.