Low Carbon Homes Scheme, Northern Ireland: Important News for OCDEAs

We would like to remind our OCDEAs in Northern Ireland about the Low Carbon Homes Scheme. This is a rate relief scheme which came into effect on 1 April 2010. It aims to encourage the building of low and zero carbon homes in Northern Ireland.

The regulations give a rate rebate of up to 2 years for a low carbon home and up to 5 years for a zero carbon home. In addition, a zero carbon home is eligible for Stamp Duty Land Tax exemption.

The scheme is application based and will require an OCDEA to issue a Low Carbon Home Certificate or Zero Carbon Home Certificate (where appropriate) in addition to an EPC for a new dwelling that meets the relevant criteria.

Firstly the dwelling’s CO2 emissions are calculated as normal for Building Regulations Compliance using NHER Plan Assessor. The calculations are then continued using one of the spreadsheets that can be downloaded here.

These spreadsheets can be used to create the applicable Low or Zero Carbon Certificate.

The Low or Zero Carbon Certificate must be supported by an EPC for the new dwelling calculated by the same assessor that calculated the Low or Zero Carbon Certificate. This is to validate the Low or Zero Carbon Certificate as otherwise it is accessible to and could be generated by anyone. Low or Zero Carbon Certificates will only be accepted where accompanied by an EPC issued by an accredited OCDEA.

A number of criteria and conditions apply for this scheme, including:

• The house must not be completed before 1 April 2010
• The scheme ends on 31 March 2013 for Low Carbon Homes and 31 March 2016 for Zero Carbon Homes

Further information on the Low Carbon Homes Scheme can be found here.