Home Energy Score Program Approved For Bend – KBND

BEND, OR — A home energy score will be required to sell a house in Bend, starting July first, following unanimous approval this week by the City Council. But the new ordinance is not without controversy.

“It’s a cost to the seller, which is ultimately a cost to the buyer,” says KBND real estate expert Fred Johnson. “Basically this is a regulation that says someone needs to come into your home before you can sell it. They’re going to gather information on your home and they’re going to charge you a fee for doing that, before you have a right to sell your home.” City officials estimate the assessment would cost between $150 and $275. 

The program is aimed at addressing climate change. But Johnson doesn’t think it will do much, since sellers aren’t required to act on what’s in the report, “It’s going to be a requirement of all homes that go on the market that there’s an energy assessment, whether they were built last week or they were built 20 years ago, with really no teeth in it. There’s no mandatory items to mitigate any potential problems that are discovered. You basically are paying for someone to come in and gather information on the property.” The ordinance does allow for a streamlined process for builders constructing the same plan on multiple lots, and there will be grants available for low-income sellers. 

He’s also troubled by how the new regulation was passed, “Obviously, there is a fair amount of dissent in the community. And yet, the vote still goes through unanimous; absolutely no dissenting vote. So, that means that there’s a good section of the population – a good section of their constituency or whatever you want to call it – that are not being represented in the process.” While several people testified the score should be optional, there were also supporters of the ordinance who said it will help home-buyers compare the expense of living in various houses and better understand the overall cost of homeownership. 

City Council says the energy score program will be re-evaluated if it is deemed “over-burdensome” or if there are not enough assessors to keep up with demand. 

Original Source: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiMWh0dHBzOi8va2JuZC5jb20va2JuZC1uZXdzL2xvY2FsLW5ld3MtZmVlZC82NjU4NDjSAQA?oc=5