It’s one of those terms that’s been bandied around rather a lot in recent years. You may even have a vague memory that it was axed. But what is (or was) the so-called Conservatory Tax? And is it really something you don’t need to worry about any more?
The short answer is no, you don’t need to worry about it. The then Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said over three years ago, back in December 2012, that the government would not be pressing ahead with its plans to bring in this scheme. This despite the fact that it initially had widespread industry support.
Since then, a legal challenge to this decision has been brought by the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), but that failed, with the ACE forced to pay the government’s costs in defending the case.
The challenge was thrown out despite an initial consultation on the issue which came out broadly in favour of the proposed measures. But there was a media backlash, especially after journalists began coining the term ‘Conservatory Tax’ – although it wasn’t ever a tax and didn’t even apply to all conventional conservatories.
What was it?
The original plan was to include a ‘consequential improvement’ under Part L of the building regulations. This would have forced all homeowners to upgrade their buildings’ energy performance when making significant improvements to their properties.
At the time, the government argued that the new rule would have boosted its flagship Green Deal scheme, and led to over two million more households taking it up. The idea was that it would avoid an overall increase in energy use.
The planned change, whose original architect was former Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, would have forced homeowners to spend hundreds of pounds on energy efficiency measures including insulation that could potentially have added up to 10% to the cost of a home improvement.
But now, rightly or wrongly, and whatever your views, it’s not something you have to take into account when planning or budgeting for your conservatory.
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