Government’s recent announcement in which many of its net zero plans were shelved or delayed, means that landlords will no longer be legally required to improve the energy efficiency of their rental properties.
A consultation to amend The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 would have required landlords to ensure their rental properties met stricter energy efficiency levels, up from an E rating to a C rating by 2025 for new rentals (by 2027 for non-domestic properies) and by 2028 for existing rentals. This has now been scrapped.
The announcement was made as part of prime minister Rishi Sunak’s green review, which included an overhaul of measures designed to meet net zero targets. Mr Sunak said that landlords will no longer need to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties, but the government will continue to “encourage households to do so where they can”.
The past 2 years have been uncertain for landlords in forecasting investment decisions to their properties as the proposed increase from E to C rating could have required significant investment in some properties.
How tenants will be affected is yet to be determined. Some say tenants will be worse off by having to pay higher energy bills in poorly efficient buildings. Others say the cost of improvements would have been passed on to tenants through rent increases anyway.
In order to ensure you are kept aware of changes to legislation and can plan for maintaining future compliance, give EHS Management a call on 07764302858, or email jamie@ehsmanagement.co.uk
