One in 20 properties remain below soon-to-be introduced minimum EPC rating for legal rentals

Insurance giant AXA says that one in 20 rental properties still have energy performance ratings below the minimum standards due to come into force in April next year. The company surveyed 1,000 tenants in August this year and found that 50 of them were living in properties with an Energy Performance Rating of F or G. The company says that this means, if its research is applied to the UK housing market, some 200,000 properties still need work on them to get them above the F rating threshold, below which from April next year landlords and agents will not be able to offer properties for rent. AXA also says that tenants living in the best-insulated properties with an A rating are paying a lot more in monthly energy bills than those in the bottom two – £61 versus £112 – and that tenants living in poorly-insulated rental properties are over-paying in total by £13 million every month. “Many landlords we speak to are ‘accidentals’, who typically own one or two properties,” says Gareth Howell, Managing Director of AXA Direct (pictured, left). “They are, by and large, professionalising and investing more seriously in their tenants’ comfort and the future health of…

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