Three-quarters of landlords (74%) welcome the government’s decision to scrap the proposal that all rental property must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least C by 2028, research from buy-to-let lender Landbay reveals today.

Its latest Landlord Survey reveals more than six out of 10 (62%) with lower rated property intend to upgrade to a C rating.

INTEND TO UPGRADE

Of these, 42% said they would make changes at some point in the future and 20% intend to upgrade as soon as possible.

A quarter (25%) said they will only make changes if legislation requires them to in the future, while 13% won’t do anything.

The expense and difficulty of retrofitting older properties is seen as the main barrier by landlords to upgrading property to meet the EPC C standard.

On the other hand, one in four landlords (26%) were not in favour of the removal of the EPC minimum requirements.

However, they do support the need for energy efficient housing as a social and environmental duty so felt landlords should be improving the ratings on their property.

APPLAUD SENTIMENT

Rob Stanton (main picture), Landbay Business Development Director, says: “We applaud the sentiment around trying to improve the energy efficiency of buildings but we also need to be realistic.

“The UK has a vast amount of older housing that is difficult to retrofit and will be expensive.

“Some landlords said they would be encouraged to update their property if there was more government help such as easy accessibility to grants.

“Over half of rental properties in the UK are D rated or lower so landlords now have some breathing space to plan without a looming deadline.”