The landlords’ trade body has given a firm message to Housing Secretary Michael Gove – sort out a realistic deadline for changes to EPC requirements in rental properties, and stick to it!

Over the weekend Gove told the Daily Telegraph that his government should ‘relax the pace’ of EPC reforms expected from private landlords.

The paper reported over the weekend: “Mr Gove admitted that in his own department the government was ‘asking too much too quickly’ of landlords, who will be banned from renting out their homes unless they pay for green measures such as insulation and heat pumps to meet a new minimum energy efficiency threshold by 2028.”

And the Telegraph continued: “Citing existing financial pressures on landlords [Gove] added: ‘I think we should relax the pace.’”

In recent days Rightmove revealed that 16 per cent of homes listed on the portal had previously been let privately, and states that concerns over stricter Energy Performance Certificates were now the main reason for landlords selling.”

Specifically, Gove is quoted as saying: “My own strong view is that we’re asking too much too quickly. We do want to move towards greater energy efficiency, but just at this point, when landlords face so much, I think that we should relax the pace that’s been set for people in the private rented sector, particularly because many of them are currently facing a big capital outlay in order to improve that efficiency.”

Now the National Residential Landlords Association has spoken out, demanding clarity and a realistic timescale for any energy efficiency changes, once and for all. 

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, says: “It is over two years since the government completed its consultation on energy efficiency standards in rented homes. As a result of the delay in responding to this, there was never any hope of meeting the originally proposed deadlines, as we told [junior housing minister Lord Callanan] earlier this month.

“The NRLA wants to see properties as energy efficient as possible, but the sector needs certainty about how and when this will happen. Ministers need to develop a proper plan that includes a fair financial package to support improvements in the private rented sector. We will continue to work with all parties to develop pragmatic and workable proposals.”

Back in January 2021 the government closed its consultation on minimum energy efficiency standards for private rented housing.  

It proposed that by April 2025 all new tenancies would need to be for properties with an energy performance rating of C or better and applied to all private rented housing by April 2028. It also proposed a national cap on the amount landlords would need to contribute to improvements of £10,000.