An MP claims properties are beginning to be left empty because their owners cannot afford to improve their energy efficiency.

The claim – from Conservative MP Greg Smith, representing Mid-Buckinghamshire – came during a brief Commons debate on EPC targets being introduced by the government for the private rental sector.

Plans were announced last month to introduce a new requirement for rental homes to have a minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C, with an ultimate deadline of 2030 for compliance. To achieve this, landlords will be expected to pay up to £15,000 per property for improvements.  

Smith told junior housing minister Rushanara Ali that “individual private landlords with just one or two properties are coming to my surgeries to say they will simply sell up and remove those properties from the private rented sector because they cannot afford to bring properties up to EPC C, when the National Trust is leaving properties in the village of Bradenham completely empty because it cannot afford to bring those rural homes up to EPC C, and when the charity Abbeyfield has closed its Princes Risborough property because it could not afford to bring it up to EPC C, displacing elderly and vulnerable residents.”

Smith urged Ali to Agee that as the government is bringing in these new regulations, it is equally incumbent on it to provide funding for hard-pressed landlords.

Ali responded by saying: “Raising standards in the private rented sector could lift up to 550,000 people out of fuel poverty. There are a number of schemes to support landlords to improve their properties, and they can look at their eligibility through gov.uk. In particular, there are schemes such as the boiler upgrade scheme, which offers £7,500 off the cost of heat pumps. We look forward to working in partnership with the sector, because we recognise that it is an important sector.”

Ali went on to says the some 13% of households in England – the equivalent of over 3m people – were officially in fuel poverty. She also claimed that the last Conservative government did not just fail to meet their housing targets, but left a legacy of high household bills too. 

And she concluded by saying: “We recognise that it is important to get the balance right. The Renters Rights Bill will put in place new regulations to protect tenants, and as I have said, there are schemes to support landlords who need support. Investment in a property is an important part of ownership, and improvements can lead to increases in property value, and in the attractiveness of lets to tenants.”