Essex landlord secures £20m government-backed retrofit loan

NatWest is among several major banks signed up to an NWF-backed initiative offering retrofit loans to housing associations. Around a year ago, NatWest announced that it would offer £500m in funding, with the NWF offering a financial guarantee for 80% of each loan.

David Mullen, chief finance officer at Eastlight, said: “The completion of this facility will allow Eastlight to retrofit at scale, ensuring residents’ homes are warmer, greener and cheaper to run.

“Our close working relationship with partners has delivered strong outcomes on pricing, tenor and reporting, while further reinforcing Eastlight’s V1 financial viability grading.”

Last December, Eastlight secured a series of refinancing deals with Santander and Lloyds to boost its efforts to make homes more energy efficient. 

Dean Holleyman, director of housing finance, England and Wales at NatWest, said: “We’re delighted to support Eastlight Community Homes with this long-term, government-backed funding, helping to enable investment in more sustainable, energy-efficient homes across the East of England.”

Other landlords to have secured funding through NWF backing for major banks include Peabody, Sovereign Network Group, Vivid and Orbit. 

Barclays and Lloyds, as well as NatWest, are offering NWF-backed loans.