Couple’s life ‘fell aside’ after dropping financial savings in insulation rip-off

A pair have misplaced almost £11,000 of financial savings in a sprig foam insulation rip-off that left their home unsellable.

Fiona and Andre Barton, each 60, obtained a chilly name in December 2022 urging them to look into their residence insulation through the cost-of-living disaster.

The couple agreed to a free loft survey from the corporate, and when the surveyor arrived, he knowledgeable them that their residence in Midlothian, Edinburgh would profit from spray foam insulation.

The surveyor provided them a restricted time low cost in the event that they signed up for the set up there after which – and so they agreed to pay the £4,926 to have the substance put in.

Six months later, Andre and Fiona had made a suggestion on one other property and had been within the technique of promoting their residence – till one other surveyor arrived to write down the house report and gave them surprising information. 

They had been advised that houses with spray foam insulation are ‘un-mortgageable’ – and so they must pay for elimination if that they had any probability of promoting their home.

After discovering a specialist firm based mostly in Liverpool, Fiona and Andre forked out one other £5,490 for the elimination of the spray foam insulation and the 2 skips wanted to haul it away.

Now, the couple are keen to boost consciousness of professional-seeming insulation scams, within the hopes that others can keep away from the price and stress they’ve confronted.

‘They sounded very skilled and plausible, in any other case we would not have gone forward with it,’ Fiona stated.

‘The chap stated he might come and take a look at our loft, as a result of it might must be upgraded with insulation.

‘I assumed our loft was effective as a result of we would had numerous insulation put in – however he got here again down, and he had footage on his iPad exhibiting us that the loft was damp.

‘They arrived at simply the fitting time, it was -5C outdoors, it was Christmas time, and so they spun the story of our loft not being satisfactory.

‘He’d taken some readings on a machine and stated that it was trying fairly dangerous – however he had an answer with this spray foam insulation, and would we like to listen to additional about it?

‘We stated sure, so a chap arrived that night and gave us all this details about how marvellous it was and the way it might undoubtedly assist to maintain our home heat.’

She added: ‘He stated it might scale back the price of our gas – and given the cost-of-living disaster, it appeared to be the fitting method to go.

‘Spray foam insulation was one thing I’d by no means heard of earlier than. I did a fast seek for the corporate’s web site and naturally the critiques had been all 5 stars.

‘He additionally stated that if we determined to go forward with it there after which, he would give us a discount within the worth.

‘We determined that it sounded fairly affordable, and we would go forward with it – and so they shortly had it put in.

‘When we had determined to promote our home, a surveyor got here to do a survey for the house report.

‘He began within the loft, so I opened up the hatch – and he stated, ‘Oh. You’ve received spray foam insulation.’

The couple had been advised that spray foam insulation can closely have an effect on the power of potential consumers to get a mortgage on the property – and their solely actual resolution was to take away it solely.

According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, spray foam is usually utilized incorrectly, stopping air flow and stopping surveyors from assessing roof situations.

As a end result, many lenders take a zero-tolerance method to properties with this sort of insulation.

‘The surveyor advised me we could not put it to market in the mean time, and requested if we had any data or contracts,’ Fiona stated.

‘I checked out my emails and located nothing – the one means I knew the corporate that had completed it was as a result of I’d paid by bank card, and I had the receipt.

‘That was when the alarm bells began going – I assumed, ‘Oh my god, we have been duped’. 

‘The surveyor stated it was turning into an more and more frequent downside for him, he was seeing it extra regularly, and so they appeared to focus on older prospects.

‘It was very traumatic. We’d put within the supply for the property we’re in now, so we solely had a month legally to get our personal property below supply.

‘We discovered an organization down in Liverpool who offered themselves because the UK’s specialist foam elimination.

‘They had been charging an eye-watering quantity – greater than it had value to put in it, however we had no selection.

‘We went with them, and it took them two and a half days. There was such a big quantity that they needed to take away from our loft.

‘My world fell aside. We’d already purchased our subsequent home and we needed to promote with the intention to transfer.’

The couple had been capable of have the insulation eliminated over the area of two days – with the elimination and set up costing a complete of £10,956.

Figures from Trading Standards Scotland present that as of mid-December 2023, 158 complaints had been obtained from customers about insulation scams, a 42% rise since 2021.

TSS is urging individuals to examine in with their older family to make sure that they don’t fall sufferer to comparable scams.

Councillor Maureen Chalmers, chair of Trading Standards Scotland’s Governance Board, stated: ‘Dishonest merchants and firms are trying to take advantage of the cost-of-living disaster and are focusing on those that need to make their houses extra power environment friendly, offering deceptive details about merchandise and implying that funding or grants can be found for his or her merchandise.

‘We strongly advise owners to seek the advice of with a mortgage adviser who’s regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority earlier than having spray foam insulation put in.

‘Don’t interact with chilly callers providing ‘free’ loft or roof surveys and by no means settle for data provided from these sources with out doing impartial analysis, significantly in the event that they let you know that there are grants or funding schemes obtainable.

‘Before agreeing to have any work completed, have an neutral evaluation carried out on your property to search out out which power effectivity measures will truly be useful to your property.

‘Don’t comply with get an evaluation completed by an organization who chilly calls you – they won’t be neutral.

‘We would additionally ask individuals to look out for members of the family, associates and neighbours who could also be susceptible and to report any suspicious behaviour to Police Scotland.’