The Government has announced that landlords in properties with an energy performance rating of F or G will be expected to pay up to £3,500 from next year, in order to improve the energy efficiency rating of their property.

Since April 2018, landlords who own some of the coldest privately rented homes have been required to improve these properties with energy efficiency measures where support is available to cover the costs. The average cost to improve an F or G rated property to a band E is expected to be around £1,200 – far below the upper ceiling being brought forward under new regulations. Examples of measures include: installing floor insulation, low energy lighting or increasing loft insulation. If upgrades will cost more than £3,500, landlords will be able to register for an exemption.

The new measures announced following a public consultation, go further requiring landlords to contribute to the cost of upgrades.

During 2019, properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of F or G, the lowest two energy efficiency ratings available, must be made warmer by landlords before they can be put on the rental market for new tenancies. This is expected to cost £1,200 on average and will affect 290,000 properties, which represents around 6% of the overall domestic market.

Responding to the announcement, RLA Policy Director David Smith said:

“The proportion of private rented homes with the worst energy efficiency ratings of F or G has fallen from 39% in 1996 to 7% in 2016. Whilst good news, we should seek to ensure every private rented property is as energy efficient as possible.

To help achieve this, the RLA produced recommendations for the Budget, which were ignored, that any work a landlord carries out that is recommended on an Energy Performance Certificate should be tax deductible.”