Mortgage brokers have ‘no choice’ but to take an interest in encouraging discussions around energy efficiency, if they want to avoid being left behind in a market increasingly focused on the green agenda.
Speaking at the inaugural Green Mortgage Summit in London, hosted by Mortgage Solutions, Robert Sinclair (pictured), chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), said brokers had a key role to play in the challenge of retrofitting the UK’s inefficient homes.
Sinclair said: “The only people who are going to compel this conversation are those who talk to the people who have mortgages, or who are thinking of buying or selling a house, and that is going to be mortgage intermediaries.
“It’s mortgage brokers who are going to be the ones who have to have the conversations with people about the need for solutions, starting with education about long-term customer journeys to save [them money] over time.”
The event, held at 15 Hatfields, London, was a collaboration between AE3 Media – the parent company of Mortgage Solutions – AMI, The Green Finance Institute and The Green Mortgage Advice Initiative.
Attendees listened to presentations from companies throughout the retrofit supply chain, such as lenders, energy assessors, compliance experts, heat pump specialists and representatives from the intermediary market.
Mind over mortgages: why we need to look after intermediaries’ mental health
Sponsored by Halifax Intermediaries
Experts attending the summit said the broker’s role is to find out what’s important to borrowers through a detailed fact-find before directing them to resources such as a retrofit platform or hub. There, they can book a home assessment by an accredited professional to establish which improvements will most benefit their home.
Why should brokers get involved?
Sinclair continued: “Why should those mortgage advisers want to take any interest in this? That is the hard part of this. There’s no choice.
“Because those who grasp this, deal with it and get it right will differentiate themselves from the rest of the marketplace, because they will become the trusted choice for the consumer to have proper conversations [with] about their property, their house, their future.”
Sinclair wants to see collaboration between lenders to ensure the next steps of the journey to retrofit more homes are a success. He also wants lenders to find a way to engage with the intermediary sector to get more brokers on board.
“I really like what many lenders are trying to do in terms of trying to develop solutions of retrofit journeys, bringing together assessors, fitters and funding,” he said.
“But this should not be seen as a competition.
“Because if we all produce different versions of this with different standards and different approaches, we’ll end up in a bad place. I implore lender trade bodies to find a way to pull this together and make it simpler and easier for everyone,” he added.
The Green Mortgage Advice Initiative was formerly known as the Mortgage Climate Action Group.
