New research highlights huge EPC upgrade task facing landlords

A fifth of all properties with an EPC under a Band C rating in the UK are within the private rental sector, highlighting the huge upgrade the property industry will have tot tackle very soon.

The government is currently proposing to require all rented properties to reach a Band C by 2025 for new tenancies and 2028 for all tenancies.

The figures, published by housing market data platform Sprift, reveal that of those properties within the housing market that are below the proposed minimum Band C, 63% are owner/occupied, 20% are in the private rental market, 13% in the social rental sector and the remaining 3% ‘unknown’.

This reveals the enormously expensive uphill battle that landlords, letting agents and both local and national governments face and who, between them, will have to finance, organise and police this £63 billion national home refurbishment project.

Despite Boris Johnson’s dislike of the motorway-invading ‘insulate Britain’ campaigners, his government has put upgrading private landlord properties high on his ‘Net Zero’ plan for the UK.

This is because, Sprift says, 77% of all carbon dioxide emissions from homes in the UK come from those in the lower EPC ratings.

“Matt Gilpin, CEO of Sprift (pictured), says: “These figures around how many properties fall into the lower EPC ratings categories, and the amount of CO2 emissions they produce, are alarming  – particularly against the backdrop of the COP 26 Summit and target of net zero emissions by 2050.

“When it comes to improving their EPC ratings, homeowners can really play their part, but we must not forget that for many, paying for improvements will be both unaffordable and unachievable.

Following the failure of the green homes grant, the government must look at how it can provide funding to assist with upgrades to meet net zero emission targets.”