In recent weeks I’ve seen a number of references to what landlords may or may not be required to do to make their properties more energy efficient.
Some pieces have claimed that ‘rules’ are already in force; others that rules have been decided but the implementation date is still awaited. It seems there may be some confusion out there.
So, for what it’s worth, here’s my understanding of the situation.
Since October 2008, all rental properties in England and Wales have been required to have an energy performance certificate (EPC). Since 1 April 2018, all properties being let, or sold for the purpose of letting, have been required (under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards) to have a minimum EPC rating of E or above.
Nothing official has been announced on energy efficiency
Since 2018 there has been quite a bit of activity in terms of formal consultation about what will be required in the future, but nothing official has been decided or announced.
‘Phased trajectory’
In September 2020 the then Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published a consultation paper entitled, ‘Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes’. This paper proposed that, at a future date, all private rental sector (PRS) property in England and Wales should have a minimum EPC rating of C, and that there should be a “phased trajectory for achieving the improvements”.
According to this phased trajectory, the minimum rating was to apply to new tenancies from 2025 and to all tenancies from 2028. The closing date for comments on the proposals was 8 January 2021 — since when there has been a deafening silence from the government as to what it will actually require of landlords.
Granted it is a very complex policy area, but time is not on our side
So, while there may be rumours flying around about there being a ‘deadline’ for landlords to upgrade their properties — and understandable anxiety about how much all this might cost — the ‘deadline’ remains a proposal, not a requirement.
The BEIS consultation about landlords’ future responsibilities was followed in November 2020 by another consultation, ‘Improving home energy performance through lenders’. This paper similarly set out proposals, a number of which Imla pushed back on in its response on the grounds that they were unworkable or unlikely to be effective.
There is no way 2025 is achievable for private landlords, and 2028 is looking increasingly ambitious
The closing date for comments on that paper was 12 February 2021 but, again, there has been no official response from either the BEIS or its successor, the recently formed Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNEZ).
As recently as 17 March I was told that we might expect an announcement “in the spring”, but this advice was overtaken by the publication, just two weeks later, of DESNEZ’s report, ‘Powering up Britain’.
Disappointingly, this report advised that the government planned to publish a summary of responses to the BEIS consultation on the PRS, and would respond to the consultation on options for improving home energy performance through lenders “by the end of 2023”.
The ‘deadline’ remains a proposal, not a requirement
Granted it is a very complex policy area, but time is not on our side — and the fact that a full three years will have passed between the consultations and the responses means any target dates for implementing real change will have to be pushed well back. There is no way 2025 is achievable for private landlords, and 2028 is looking increasingly ambitious.
When the government eventually decides what it will require from landlords and lenders, it will need to be very clear in its messaging.
Kate Davies is executive director of Imla
This article featured in the May 2023 edition of MS.
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