The u-turn by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on green policies may be seen by some landlords as a rare piece of good news.

The National Residential Landlords Association and letting agency trade body Propertymark both told the government as long ago as 2020 that some energy efficiency targets were so costly they made letting out a property unviable.

Their comments were made in consultation responses on the introduction of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards some three years ago, expecting landlords to upgrade residential properties to EpC band C or above by 2025, or 2028 depending on the type of tenancy.

That consultation closed in January 2021 but – uncharacteristically – has never been responded to by government.

An analysis conducted over the summer by Rightmove suggests it could take literally decades for the private rental sector to conform with stricter energy efficiency requirements.

The portal says vastly improved incentives are required to accelerate the progress of getting private rental and owner occupied properties to the government’s official target of EPC rating C or better.

Rightmove says that at the current rate of improvement it would take 31 years for 100 per cent of privately rented houses to be C or better; for privately rented flats the duration would be 16 years.

A new ‘Greener Homes’ report by the portal shows that landlords are increasingly shunning lower-rated properties, with 61 per cent saying they would not now buy a rental property below an EPC rating of C, up from 47 per cent when asked last year.

Meanwhile for owner occupiers, only four per cent of homeowners have plans to have a heat pump installed; however, sellers who have improved their home from an EPC rating of an F up to a C could command an average price premium of almost £56,000 on top of the local house price growth. 

The report reveals that 60 per cent of homes for sale on Rightmove – and 50 per cent of homes available to rent – have an EPC rating of D or below.

The report suggests that incentives to be offered could include stamp duty rebates if a new buyer makes green improvements in the first few years of purchase; more significant incentives for energy efficient homes for both new mortgages and remortgages; more grants or tax benefits for green technology such as electric car charging points and solar panels; and enabling new innovations that speed up the creation and implementation of energy efficient technology.