{"id":1055512,"date":"2026-06-28T13:15:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T13:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1055512\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T13:15:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T13:15:27","slug":"couple-told-250k-home-is-worth-nothing-due-to-due-to-spray-foam-loft-insulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1055512\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple told \u00a3250k home is worth nothing due to due to spray foam loft insulation"},"content":{"rendered":"

David and Margaret Hay, from East Ayrshire, only realised the problem after they decided to buy a new house last year.<\/p>\n

04:30, 28 Jun 2026Updated 08:04, 28 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

\"elderly<\/p>\n

David and Margaret Hay were told their house was ‘unsellable'(Image: Alasdair MacLeod\/Sunday Mail)<\/p>\n

A devastated couple have been told their \u00a3250,000 house<\/a> is \u201cunsellable\u201d due to spray foam loft insulation.<\/p>\n

David and Margaret Hay, from near Darvel<\/a>, East Ayrshire, only realised the problem after they decided to move and tried to buy a new house last year.<\/p>\n

But the deal fell through at the 11th hour after the couple were told it would be pointless to put their own property<\/a> on the market.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re among an estimated 250,000 people across the UK thought to have spray foam insulation – until recently, touted by governments as an effective way to boost home energy efficiency.<\/a><\/p>\n

But dodgy installations causing damp and timber rot have created a mounting consumer crisis, with homeowners<\/a> unable to sell or remortgage.<\/p>\n

\"spray<\/p>\n

David said their spray home insulation was done ‘by the book’ when house built in 2016(Image: Alasdair MacLeod\/Sunday Mail)<\/p>\n

David said \u201cbreathable open cell\u201d spray foam insulation was installed as part of the architect\u2019s design when it was built in 2016, with everything done \u201cby the book\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the 68-year-old former HGV driver told the Sunday Mail:<\/a> \u201cThere have been a lot of cowboys selling spray foam insulation to people, and because that\u2019s happened there has been almost a blanket ban on finance from banks and building societies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been caught up in all of that. It has come as a huge shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked hard all our lives right up to the last minute, it was a big effort getting to this point. So this situation has been gutting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hays bought the three-bedroom house for \u00a3205,000 in 2018, mostly with their own savings. They took out a \u00a360,000 mortgage with Bank of Scotland<\/a> and have already paid the loan off.<\/p>\n

Based on comparable property prices in their area today, without the insulation problem their house could be worth north of \u00a3250,000.<\/p>\n

But now the couple are left with a property they can\u2019t sell. They could spend up to \u00a3700 on a specialist surveyor out to check the insulation but with no guarantee this would be enough to satisfy mortgage-lenders.<\/p>\n

\"couple<\/p>\n

David and Margaret Hay want government action to help people in their situation(Image: Alasdair MacLeod\/Sunday Mail)<\/p>\n

Former NHS worker Mary, 74, said: \u201cWe\u2019re stuck between the devil and deep blue sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to move a bit closer to amenities. I\u2019ve got terrible arthritis so going up and down stairs is difficult. We wanted to move to a bungalow which would have been ideal for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were told it didn\u2019t look like we could sell, it absolutely kicked the teeth out of me.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor four or five months, it just floored me. I couldn\u2019t come to terms with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another option for the couple could be paying thousands to have the spray foam removed – but that could damage the property\u2019s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or even invalidate its planning permission.<\/p>\n

Experts have warned the crisis has sparked a wave of unscrupulous traders offering spray foam removal at extortionate rates to homeowners, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

David and Margaret have met with Kilmarnock and Loudoun MP Lillian Jones to discuss their plight and want government action to allow people in their position to sell their homes.<\/p>\n

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google\u2019s preferred sources. Click HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David and Margaret Hay, from East Ayrshire, only realised the problem after they decided to buy a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1055513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[27978,61088,12550,53,16,15],"class_list":["post-1055512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-homes-and-property","tag-kilmarnock","tag-sunday-mail","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116827924112408783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1055512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1055513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1055512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1055512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1055512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}