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.
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Grants are nearly always too fiddly and complicated and only available if you use companies that charge way more than a normal installer would charge.
A tax super deduction would be a great way to motivate landlords to make certain improvements.
Providing gas engineers with a supply of smart programmers that people could have installed when having their boiler serviced would be a cheap, easy improvement.
If the government look at simply, accessible ideas they might get somewhere. Just avoid complicated means tested grants.
As said grants are simply smoke 💨 & mirrors 🪞, not worth the hassle. This U turn has prevented 2 families loosing their homes 🏡. It’s that simple in the real world. Although my tenants are unaware how close they came….. still selling up, but I can give far more notice now.
Government policies have been geared towards achieving a reduction in private landlords and an increase in owner occupation.
It would be in keeping with their aims to target energy incentives at new buyers/owner occupiers and those who turn their properties over as permanent accommodation for those on benefits.
Great point and a good reason among many others to avoid benefit tenants.
I am not going to become a compulsory ‘social housing provider/slave for any Gov.
It’s only temporary
Once they get back in it’ll be full steam ahead with klaus lunatic policies
The writing was on the wall with evictions so he had to do something, rather than give up and leave the mess for labour Sunak has seen Starmer pop a cap in his foot over Europe and has now gone on the front foot four or five months earlier than he wanted. Inflation will drop to a reasonable level and he will have his superman cape on.
If he can pull level in the polls don't be surprised to see the election a little sooner than Nov 24
The spectre of a Labour Government scares the hell out of me, but the Conservatives are courting the Socialist vote at the expense of LL's, Businesses and anyone with wealth.
The U turn can quickly become a full circle... I don't trust any of them and am standing by my decision to sell up. 👍
Hard to tell the difference between labour and Tories when both leaders are basically wef puppets
John Chart ruminates:
The fact that this measure seems to ameliorate the lot of landlord will cause an eruption of rege at iShelter, Generation Rant and all that sail with them !
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