When Labour came into power it promised a commitment to energy efficiency in the rental sector. In late July Ed Miliband, Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary confirmed to the Commons that landlords will need to raise the energy performance certificate rating of their properties to a C standard by 2030.
The new minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) target reflects the Conservatives’ original plan. That proposed a revision of rental properties from EPC band E to EPC band C, impacting newly-rented properties by 2025 and all tenancies by 2028. However, the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak backtracked on those targets last September with landlords instead ‘encouraged’ to meet the C standard rather than being instructed to do so.
It was a relief to many who had been expected to pay up to £10,000 in upgrades to meet the new efficiency standards. Some landlords were considering leaving the rental market because of the financial pressures of doing so.
What Labour is proposing
Now Labour is in power they have committed to homes in the private rented sector meeting MEES standards by 2030. With the new C standard minimum, landlords are again asking how this will be done. Organisations such as the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) are calling for more information from the Government on how properties will be assessed, details of exemptions and spending caps and the likelihood of funding or other support to help landlords make the necessary improvements.
The NRLA is also calling for details of the regulations required in order to give landlords time to plan and budget for the necessary upgrades.
Warm Homes Plan
The government announced its Warm Homes Plan within its original election manifesto. This will see an investment of more than £6.6 billion over the parliament period, upgrading five million homes to make them more energy efficient and to cut bills for tenants.
The plan includes grants and low interest loans to help support investment in energy saving measures – from insulation to solar panels and low carbon heating. It pledged to work together with authorities, banks and the private sector to accelerate its plans.
The phrase that many landlords breathed a sigh of relief over was that no one would be “forced to rip out their boiler as a result of our plans”. This has led to hopes that Labour’s plans will be less costly and less onerous to landlords than the Conservatives’ proposals.
Action needs to be taken urgently. In February independent climate change think tank E3G published a letter, undersigned by 33 groups including the Energy Saving Trust, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, calling for more action for the UK to be able to meet its net zero targets, as well as its statutory obligation to end fuel property by 2030.
It pointed out at the time that Labour should reconfirm the planned uplift to minimum energy efficiency standard in the private rented sector – where one in four homes live in fuel poverty - pointing out that well-designed incentives and public engagement are crucial to achieve this.
Landlords will be eager to hear more details of the help they will be getting to meet such targets over the coming weeks.
For more information on how Kings Group can assist you on your letting journey, please contact one of our branches in Essex, London or Hertfordshire today. We also offer a free and instant online valuation to give you an idea of how much your home could be worth on the current market.
