Posted: Thursday, 10 July 2008 @ 16:52
The Government's definition of a zero carbon home is contained in the snappily titled The Stamp Duty Land Tax (Zero-Carbon Homes Relief) Regulations 2007.
This is not merely of academic interest.
The first purchaser of a zero-carbon home will pay no Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on the purchase if the price is £500,000 or less and will have their SDLT bill reduced by £15,000 if the house costs more than £500,000.
The house must satisfy three tests:
1. The Heat Loss Parameter of the house must be no more than 0.8 Watts per square metre Kelvin (W/m2K)
2. The Dwelling CO2 Emission Rate over the course of a year must be zero
3. The Net CO2 Emissions from the dwelling over the course of a year must be zero.
In laymans terms - you need a very well insulated house which offsets its CO2 emissions with zero-carbon energy generation.
For more information on how to build a zero carbon home contact commercial property lawyer, Steve Petty, on 01926 629005.
Steve Petty, Commercial Property Lawyer
For free advice on this topic please call us on 0845 003 5639.
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