Mortgage Lender to Give Homeowners Cashback for Home Efficiency Improvements

Lender Kensington Mortgages will give homeowners £1,000 cashback if they complete a home efficiency upgrade within a year of mortgage completion.

The eKo Cashback mortgage, the first of its kind on the market, requires customers increase the rating on their Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) by 10 (Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) points. That’s the equivalent of installing solar panels, adding loft insulation or insulating a hot water cylinder and installing low energy lighting.

Kensington Mortgages is a specialist provider of lending products for contractors and the self-employed, first-time buyers and those with complex incomes.

Its eKo Cashback mortgage is available to customers both buying a home or remortgaging. Interest rates start at 3.04% for a 75% LTV mortgage.

Mark Arnold, chief executive of Kensington Mortgages, said: “Many people are becoming increasingly conscious of their carbon footprint and want to reduce it. So making energy efficiency improvements in your home is a no-brainer—you can help combat climate change and save on your bills at the same time. With Kensington’s new eKo mortgage you can also be rewarded in the form of cashback.”

The eKo Cashback mortgage is different from other green mortgages in rewarding efficiency upgrades in older properties, not just new builds.

Arnold said: “We are particularly excited about this new product because unlike other green initiatives, the eKo Cashback Mortgage is targeted at efficiency improvements to pre-existing properties, rather than focusing on investment in new builds, offering the opportunity to help combat climate change to a much broader set of borrowers.”

In contrast, Nationwide’s new £1 billion fund for green mortgages, launched last month, will offer loans to customers buying new-build properties with A-rated EPCs.

Last summer, the government launched a £5 million fund to support the financial industry in developing green mortgages, to reward homeowners for buying efficient properties and upgrading older homes.

The government is aiming to upgrade all homes in the UK to the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C standard by 2035. There are currently 17 million homes across the UK rated below that.