At David Harris & Co, we are committed to helping landlords in Finchley make informed decisions. With a New Year underway, we know many landlords are looking ahead, and we believe concerns about making rental properties more energy-efficient is an issue for many local landlords.
The National Landlords Association, the NRLA, is calling for the Government to rethink plans that will see landlords paying up to £10,000 to improve the energy efficiency rating of their home.
There have been some media reports, notably in the Daily Telegraph, that there will be a delay to the start of the process.
Will EPC plans be delayed?
It was initially believed that by 2025, all new tenancies in the private rental sector will have to hold an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of a C or better. The current rumours suggest this will be delayed to 2026. It is also believed there will be no changes to the plans to impose this criterion on all rental property from 2028.
With the Government saying landlords should expect to pay up to £10,000 to bring their property up to standard, this could be a costly time for landlords. With the NRLA announcing their research indicates private landlords make an average net income of less than £4,500 per year per rental property, there is a concern about the costs of these changes, whenever they are introduced.
What do property market experts say?
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, commented: “We all want to see as many energy efficient rental properties in the sector as possible. Besides being good for tenants, improvements made to rental properties ensure they become more attractive to prospective tenants when being marketed by landlords and agents. However, the government’s proposals for the sector are not good enough.”
Ben Beadle also said; “They rely on a misguided assumption that landlords have unlimited sums of money and fail to accept the realities of different property and rental values across the country. Ministers need a smarter approach with a proper financial package if they are to ensure their ambitious objectives are to be met.”
David Whittaker is a respected source in the rental market, and he has also spoken about this matter.
David spoke to Landlord Today, saying, “Landlords don’t need more time to make their homes more energy efficient; they need more financial help from the government. The cost of upgrading even a home from an EPC band D to a C can cost anything north of £6,000 – a substantial amount of money for most people at the current time. For those landlords who worked hard to get their properties to an EPC of E back in 2018 the costs can be several times greater. People often wrongly assume that landlords are swimming in cash, but the reality is that most are normal people, on modest incomes who have a few properties to bulk up their pension.”
David concluded by saying, “Therefore, giving them an extra year to upgrade the EPC rating of their properties will be of little use when the government remains strangely silent on the replacement to the Green Homes Grant, which was withdrawn this March with only a vague promise of something new in April 2022.”
If you have any questions about the housing market, or you need assistance, please contact David Harris & Co today. Call us on 0208 346 9122.
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