RICS Launch Revolutionary New Retrofit Standard
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have launched a new Residential Retrofit Standard in response to rising energy bills and looming net zero targets.
The new standard, created by a team of experts, comes after an extensive, eight-week consultation period, and was designed in response to a demand for high quality, residential retrofit advice.
In providing a framework within which RICS members can advise their customers on retrofit options in homes across the UK, the standard supports nationwide efforts to decarbonise the residential property sector.
The standard seeks to ensure that consumers receive advice from skilled, regulated professionals and ultimately protects the public interest by upholding high standards in a growing market.
It is intended to be applied and understood across the UK residential sector and is the only one of its kind designed to support surveyors and provide assurance to both consumers and lenders.
Energy efficiency increasingly on buyers minds, according to survey
The RICS Residential Property Monitor survey in January featured a number of additional questions related to energy efficiency, in an attempt to understand the impact of energy efficient properties on market trends.
When asked whether they had seen greater interest from buyers in more energy efficient homes, 39% of survey respondents said they had noticed an increase in demand, compared to 34% when the same question was asked in June 2023.
Furthermore, 43% of respondents, up from 42% last year, stated that sellers were looking to attach a premium to homes that are more energy efficient.
The survey also found there has been an increase in buyers highlighting poor energy efficiency as a reason for making an offer below asking price, at 26% compared to a previous 23%, while 37% said that more energy efficient homes were holding their value in the current market. Paul Bagust, RICS Head of Property Practice, said:
As homeowners increasingly look to explore ways to retrofit their homes to improve energy performance, it is critical that advice is given by a highly qualified professional.
“It is clear, especially from the results of the extra questions added to our monthly residential survey, that there is a market need for a standard that facilitates quality, reliability and consistency, and the RICS Retrofit Standard does just that.
“This fully comprehensive standard will be rigorously upheld by RICS and has been designed to be used and understood by a broad range of professionals in the industry. We are asking for the recommendations in the standard to be implemented by 31 October 2024”.
