Don’t worry about looming EPC rules, agents and landlords told
Landlords are upgrading their homes to the minimum C standard well before the 2030 deadline, one expert has claimed.
Letting agents worried about Labour’s 2030 deadline for all rental properties to reach an EPC C rating will be relieved to hear that a surprising number have already reached the required level.
EpIMS’ Craig Cooper (pictured) says that in 2024, a C rating was awarded to 44.3% of properties and the proportion of those with A ratings broke the 1% mark for the first time, climbing from 0.8% in 2023 up to 1.7% in 2024.
And 60.5% of all homes were awarded a rating of between A and C – the highest proportion over the past ten years.
Perspective
To put that into some kind of perspective, in 2014, 69% of properties that received a new EPC rating scored a D or worse and the most common rating was D which accounted for 44.4% of the 2.2m certificates awarded.
Cooper expects the number of those making upgrades to accelerate as the deadline approaches and technology reduces the costs involved.
The nation’s dwellings have already been steadily improving year on year even without governmental pressure.”
He says: “Landlords may have concerns when it comes to being forced to upgrade all of their properties to an EPC rating of at least C, but the nation’s dwellings have already been steadily improving year on year even without governmental pressure to do so.
“Advancements in areas such as building materials and heating systems mean that energy efficiency in the home is improving as a matter of course.
“Our ability to understand how best to improve efficiency is also improving, with advanced technology such as AI now able to analyse a home and quickly identify its weak spots which can then be addressed in the most practical and affordable way.
“As such, landlords who are concerned about the time and cost required for upgrading their properties in order to adhere to the government’s proposed rules might actually be pleasantly surprised at how affordable it is, just so long as they approach the challenge in the most efficient manner.”
As someone that has a compliance business in London I’m cynical about these figures. The EPC software can be tweaked in the background without us assessors even knowing. It does seem more properties are reaching a C compared to a few years without the landlords making improvements
Well I do not think this man is living in the real world. Northern towns are full of old Victorian terraced houses with solid walls, wooden sash windows, chimneys and air bricks. These homes need air flow to stop damp; many at the lower end of the rental market who live in housing benefit paid-for rentals are living in these old Victorian houses with little to no heating single pane glass windows. It’s time these southern landlords realised the divide in our nation.