Date Published 23 August 2024
Labour are looking to reintroduce the EPC targets which was set in the most recent Conservative government. These targets included all private rental properties to have an EPC rating of C or better by 2030. This was abandoned a year ago though by Rishi Sunak. Now Ed Miliband, has suggested the target is back on the agenda for the new government with legislation likely in the near future.
In order to hit this main target though their will have to be 340,000 homes upgraded every year to hit the 2030 energy target. A study conducted by Hamptons indicates that in 2024, 55% of privately rented properties that received a new EPC certificate attained a rating of C or higher, in contrast to 48% of homes occupied by their owners. Nevertheless, it is projected that 3-4% of rental properties will be unable to reach an EPC rating within the A-C range.
Kristjan Byfield, the operator of a letting's agency in London and co-founder of the PropTech platform The Depositary, stated in a video interview that although the primary objective emphasizes achieving an EPC rating of C or higher for rental properties, previous proposals and potentially future ones are considerably more complex. Kristjan stated:
'There was a myriad of exemptions: if your head lease didn't allow it, if you had a conservation area or a listed building. There was also a spend cap. It was hyped around the media like it was some never-ending liability with people spending £50,000 or £100,000 on a house to meet that energy efficiency rating. Nonsense!'
He says that the cap was much lower, and probably will be in the future, and that Landlords should in any case be reinvesting in their property.
With the focus mainly on Renters Right Bill it will be interesting to see how quickly Labour would like to bring these targets back into place and create new legislation for it.
