Offa, the UK’s first Shariah-compliant bridging loan provider, has launched a short-term loan system for landlords which is open only in relation to properties with an EPC rating of A to C.
Offa says this BTL bridging finance aims to encourage landlords to invest in energy-efficient properties and increase the proportion of A-C rated properties in the private rented sector.
Recent government legislation requires all rental properties, other than those with agreed exemptions, to have an EPC rating of E or higher to be legally let in the private rental sector. From 2025 this is being raised to an EPC rating of C for new tenancies and in 2028, a minimum C rating for all tenancies.
According to the National Residential Landlords Association there are currently 19m homes rated below C, including an estimated 10m homes in the private rental sector.
Offa’s rates start from 0.49 per cent for purchase and re-bridge and include free valuations.
Bilal Ahmed, the lender’s chief executive, says: “Landlords have made great strides in adding more energy efficient homes to the private rental sector – or upgrading properties to C or above standard – over the past decade. However, more needs to be done as the government moves towards its net zero carbon target by 2050 and landlords have a key role to play in that.
“If landlords are to improve the energy efficiency of their BTL stock, they may need the short-term finance to enable them to do so. Making sure there are attractive options, whilst recognising the efforts to upgrade existing properties, is an important element of this.”
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The whole EPC thing is a total joke , most people just want a roof over their heads , in all my time ( over 20 years ) letting flats and shops not one single tenant has even mentioned epc let alone requested one , banks and solicitors maybe
They move the goalposts and soon it'll be B minimum squeezing out all the PRS , I can't see this ending well
Meanwhile China continues to pump out more pollutants than the rest of the developed world combined and there's nothing in the media about it , even Greta never talks about China , wonder why ???
There are far more owner occupied properties. If the objective is to be greener then target them first.
Wait a minute. Does that mean far more disgruntled voters?
Like George, I have NEVER been asked about epc and some of the criteria applied has been ludicrous.
One of my flats have always been C rated. I have kept up with all the required repairs, I haven’t altered the property, but now the property has a D rating. When I compared the old and new EPC certificate, the new one showed that the property was two square meters larger. How can that be! Is that why the rating for the flat has gone down?
I don’t think the difference in measurement is anything to do with it, it will be a small percentage of over all size and they vary slightly between assessors, generally the flats are measured over all floor area excluding the external wall but include internal dividing walls.
I had EPC ‘D’ and was told the improvements to do for better EPC. I done all that namely, New Condensing Boiler, Cavity Wall Insulation, increase roof insulation, New Double Glazed Windows, low energy bulbs, add room stat, had EPC re-done
and still gave me a ‘D’ the assessors are not consistent.
That's disgraceful , they told me that if I spent £13k upgrading I could save £300 a year , lol
Take me 43 years to get my £ back - smh
The whole EPC thing is another layer of pointless red tape , utterly ridiculous
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