The owners who had spray foam installed on their property having said THE I Paper they are “living in fear of losing” their homes after major lenders refused mortgages on detached properties.

An estimated 250,000 homes in the UK have spray foam insulation on their roofs, much of which was installed under the previous Conservative government. government subsidized green homes program.

When applied incorrectly, moisture can become trapped behind the foam, putting the wood in the roof at risk of dangerous rot. It is not possible to check the quality of the work and wooden eaves without removing all the insulation.

This comes after the BBC revealed that a quarter of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders refuse to lend to homes with spray foam insulation due to problems on poor fit, and many others require costly additional checks by a surveyor.

Darryl and Selina, who declined to give their last names, said THE I Paper that buying their Belfast home in 2022 was “probably one of the worst times of our lives” after mortgage brokers repeatedly refused to lend for their “dream home” due to the Spray foam insulation installed by previous owners.

The couple, both aged 34, who were then moving from Brighton in Northern Ireland, had their mortgage application refused by Natwest at the valuation stage and were told their purchase “could not go ahead just because of the spray foam.”

“We were shocked because we saw (the insulation) when we went for the tour, but we didn’t really know what it was,” Darryl said. “But we only found out when we got the mortgage value” and were told all the insulation had to be removed.

He said the existing owners had only just built the upstairs in preparation for selling the house and were forced to remove the insulation months later.

“The existing owners wanted us to pay, and of course I said ‘no way’. I said, ‘You know there’s no chance,'” Darryl said. “I said, either you pay for it or you’ll just have to find a cash buyer because everyone’s going to experience the same thing.” The current owner then signed on after the couple sought help from a specialist broker.

“I think it cost about £7,000 to remove it,” Darryl said. “The same people who installed it a few months earlier removed it.”

The couple said they were “shocked” that spray foam insulation is still allowed to be installed on homes.

“I’m shocked by the marketing,” Selina added. “The way they make it so easy, and they say, ‘This will turn up your heat, blah blah blah.’ And yes, maybe that’s okay. If in your lifetime you never want to sell your house.

Darryl said: “I think it should be banned. I’m shocked that this is allowed to exist. It’s shameful.

“Just thinking about it brings back horrible, painful memories, and I would hate for anyone else to go through that. I’ve talked to people at work about it. No one seems to know how serious all of this is in terms of being able to get a mortgage.

The couple said they considered abandoning their move to Belfast, but ultimately decided the property was worth fighting for.

“We still have problems now as we had to remortgage (after carrying over the previous deal on their old property) and although the spray frame was removed the surveyor could obviously see it was there” , Selina said. The couple were then forced to carry out a new roof survey.

“So we will probably have to have the roof re-surveyed for the rest of our mortgage life,” they explained. “We still have to provide all this evidence, even though it has been suppressed.”

The couple declined to give their last name, fearing it could jeopardize future remortgage applications. “At the end of the day, I’m very nervous about our house,” Darryl said.

Selina added: “That’s how you feel. You feel like you won’t get the house until you sign that dotted line. We live in fear of losing the house because (the mortgage lenders) are going to see that (the spray foam insulation) is there and they’re going to deny us a mortgage again. And the next thing you know, we’re screwed.

Carol Cook, from Essex, said THE I Paper that spray foam insulation was “the bane of his life” for the past three years.

She and her husband installed the insulation after being told it would help them save on their heating bills when the government rolled out its insulation system. Green Homes Grant Program.

“We weren’t planning on selling anytime soon,” she said. “This is our forever home, so we wanted to do what we thought was the best thing.”

Carol said they paid £7,500 and were initially very happy with the results and noticed the house was much warmer.

“But then I read the paper earlier this year and noticed a few articles” about spray foam insulation, she said, adding that her husband thought they had a different version of the spray foam involved and they would have no problem.

“Then I started to get worried and said to my husband, ‘let’s get an independent surveyor’,” Carol added.

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“The investigation sat in the loft for a while, and then he asked, “Can I show you this?” And then he removed some insulation, squeezed it and water came out.

She said the surveyor explained the installers had applied the spray foam incorrectly and it should be removed urgently.

Carol said she contacted the installers but was told they were in liquidation and would not be able to refund the couple or remove the wet moss. She said they instead paid £6,500 to remove the spray foam, costing them £14,000 in total.

She added: “The ironic thing is that this is all done because you’re trying to do good for the environment and in all this crap they took 350 bags of waste from this foam which all had to be landfilled. And that only came from our one bungalow.

Carol said she was in tears and couldn’t sleep for weeks because of the insulation problems. “It’s a lot of stress. It’s very upsetting, but there is nowhere to turn.

Although she doesn’t believe spray foam insulation should be banned, the homeowner called for stricter regulation of the product and the companies that install the foam.