Ed Miliband: Landlords must meet EPC C targets by 2030

Bully and idiot, must be some way to take this banget on on the basis of abuse of power and some form of discrimination. how can they force only landlords due to fuel poverty and not every other householder, Inc councils. They think every landlord is loaded. People have invested everything they have to have a rent as a pension, so it's not profit, it's household income for some so he will affect wages.

Not sure how the property that I live in could be turned to an EPC of C. My plan is to move out eventually and rent it out. It is an apartment in a ferro-concrete tower block. The only obvious EPC improvement would be to install double glazing, I guess. However, the windows are NOT part of the demised premises, but are the responsibility of rhe freeholder. What if this latter chooses not to upgrade?

In many instances it would take 12 to 36 months equivalent rent just to fund the upgrades, and that doesn't include any remediation work.

I can see a lot of S8's being issued beforehand with the reason 'selling property', and if it comes to a court deciding on who has the most hardship, the tenant of the landlord - all the landlord has to say is he is retiring and this is his pension money - no judge would dare argue with that (as in my case I am selling up when the tenants leave).

Reply to the comment left by Derek Chekansky at 26/07/2024 - 17:20
It IS profit if income exceeds expenses.

Reply to the comment left by John Porcella at 26/07/2024 - 18:58
And what are expenses? Not finance costs post 2020 under S24 so a situation can arise where there is a tax liability on what is a loss after taking mortgage interest into account.

Reply to the comment left by Markella Mikkelsen at 26/07/2024 - 12:18
BOE museum is an F. I'm sure they must have the money to upgrade

Hmmmm.
I thought it was going to be difficult to get properties up to EPC grade C.
However I’m reasonably tenancious about finding solutions to issues such as these so I did the course to become an EPC assessor so I could work out the most cost efficient way to get properties up a grade, or two grades.
It was worthwhile as there are reasonably affordable ways of getting the required grades - I managed to get four Victorian terraces/flats/end of terraces up to EPC grade C from D and one E for about £5000.
So just over a grand on average.
It’s just knowing how the system works and giving it what it wants to tick the box.
I have to say - I did lift the floors in one of them and insulate fully, and did other assorted works. Didn’t make a blind bit of difference to the bills/the amount of energy used though…..!
I finished them just in time for Sunak to cancel the requirement.
In the back of my head there might be a business helping people raise the EPC grade in the most financially efficient way possible (for a fee) - probably won’t do anything until closer to the 2030 mark unless there is significant demand however.
Any questions just give me a shout!

This Government like the last one will just ignore the NRLA who are fast becoming pointless. They have no voice.

Reply to the comment left by Fred Flintstone at 26/07/2024 - 21:04
I decided to get a new EPC on a property that had had some room in the roof insulation work done since the previous one.

I arranged with the letting agency for them to contact their assessor with the proviso that I wanted to arrange to be there to remove the hatches to evidence this insulation as experience told me it wouldn’t be done by the assessor.

Very promptly, I received a notification of the new EPC - which had been done with the assumption of no insulation in the roof room. So a complete waste of time.

In the end I got it redone FOC and the guy admitted he had got the message about my requirements but presumably just easier to go around assuming this that and other to make life easier.

As so much rides on the score for rented property this attitude needs to change - the default should really be an inspection with agreed scope to actually check out measures that may be in place but need a little investigation to prove.

Reply to the comment left by Keith Wellburn at 27/07/2024 - 05:23
Yes - this is absolutely key.
It is not feasible to do a proper investigation into the property in half an hour or an hour or whatever the standard EPC assessor allows to look at a property and produce the certificate.
I got plans from the local council and previous owners, installed hatches to investigate insulation thickness, and looked at how the algorithm worked in terms of the scoring procedure.
One property, from plans obtained, had a much later extension than initially appeared for example. This made many points difference.
Sometimes a combination of £200 of bits added would raise the points gained by four. For example weather/load compensation for boilers, loft insulation in a small extension, central heating pump and thermostatic radiator valves of a specific type.
The problem is that this information is only available to assessors and it defaults to ‘insulate external walls’ and ‘solar panels’ which is multiple thousands (if not tens of thousands) and could make a property unviable.
It also probably doesn’t help that there were people on the course asking, “What is a stud wall?” and “What is the difference between single and double glazing?”!