The minimum EPC standards for rental properties that were set to cost landlords thousands have been scrapped by Rishi Sunak.
The Prime Minister announced the costs involved in upgrading homes to a C rating or above would be huge and would likely lead to tenants paying a higher rental price.
Instead, the Government has now offered money to landlords and homeowners as an incentive for them to upgrade their properties, but there is no real clarity on when they should do it by.
For many landlords, this is good news but for some the announcement comes too late. Many have already committed thousands of pounds and wasted hours of time making the proposed changes. According to data released from Shawbrook Bank, 80% of UK landlords said they were already prepared for the 2025 EPC regulation deadline. Of these landlords, 30% said their properties already have an EPC rating of A-C, while 50% said they had plans in place to improve their EPC rating before 2025. In the last year, 46% of landlords have spent between £500-20,000 on improving or investing in their property in the last year. However, 17% said they were not prepared and had no plans to improve the EPC rating of their property.
Some landlords have even left the sector as the upgrades were simply unrealistic and this has had a huge impact on the rental market, reducing the number of properties available and contributing to the hikes in rental prices tenants have faced.
Joe Gervin, managing director, said: “Whilst it is a relief for landlords that they aren’t facing deadlines on their EPC’s, yesterday’s decision is simply kicking the can down the road, and doesn’t really change things.
“With (extortionate) utility bills being in the spotlight, tenants are demanding energy-efficient rental properties anyway so, to keep attracting tenants, landlords have to make the changes anyway. Plus, today's buyers also want to purchase properties with a higher EPC rating, so it will be hard to sell anything with a rating lower than C. But, aside from the finance, the majority of landlords want to make the improvements because they actually care about creating a 'more sustainable future.
“Landlords have suffered at the hands of Government indecision for too long now, and I’d like to see them provide a more detailed plan as to how they are going to landlords (and homeowners in general) in making their properties more sustainable and how they will better support our important industry in general.”
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