Call for stamp duty rebates on green upgrades

Homeowners who make environmentally friendly upgrades to their homes should see their efforts rewarded via a rebate on their stamp duty payments and VAT reductions, it has been suggested.

Friends of the Earth has said that new chancellor Alistair Darling should include incentives in the pre-budget report, advising that such measures were crucial to aiding the suggestions that Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are likely to make.

The government should also increase its funding of microgeneration technologies, the group's Green House campaigner David Timms has said.
"We are keen that the government pushes forward with schemes to allow people to get a VAT reduction on work they do on their house to make it more energy efficient," Mr Timms commented.

"At the moment if a professional comes in to insulate your roof for example you only pay 5 per cent VAT however if you do DIY you have to pay 17.5 per cent," he added.

Earlier this week the Ecology Building Society reported that there is a great deal of consumer interest in the government's Low Carbon Buildings grant scheme.


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