Plea to ensure landlords’ energy work is future-proofed

A trade body has told MPs the government must ensure work done to make homes energy efficient is ‘future-proofed’ to accept up-coming changes.

The government’s Environmental Audit Committee has heard evidence from the National Residential Landlords Association as part of its investigation into the energy efficiency of homes in the UK.

Regulation changes mean that all rental properties - other than those with agreed exemptions - must have an EPC rating of E or higher to be legally let in the private rental sector. 

From 2025 this is being raised to EPC rating C for new tenancies, and 2028 for a C rating minimum for all tenancies.

The NRLA says committee chair Philip Dunne MP said he wanted to know more about the scale of the challenges across all tenures.

Currently 19m homes are rated below C, including an estimated 10m homes in the private rental sector. 

NRLA local authority policy officer Gavin Dick told the committee of MPs that landlords must be confident any work done will be compatible with the future change to zero carbon homes. 

He also said the government should give guidance so people know the correct order to do works and what the correct works were.

When asked about the potential cost to landlords, he told the committee that while costs would be likely to fall under the £10,000 mark for most landlords for some, especially those with older homes, it would be significantly higher. 

Dick warned MPs that landlords could sell up if the cost of improvements is disproportionate to the value of the property and flagged issues that can arise when it comes to making improvements to properties with sitting tenants.

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