EPC A-C proposals affecting landlords/tenants and owner occupiers alike?

Reply to the comment left by Christopher Lee at 23/05/2023 - 07:48
Christopher, I agree, they are only proposals and are likely to change. In fact I am hoping they will change it from a minimum of C to D. However don't bet the farm on them changing.! - If they stay as they are a LOT of BTL investors will certainly catch a cold. If you spend £10K today will it count - well NO I dont think it will (when the proposal for E rating came in with a cap of £3,500 - any spend before that didn't count). What I would say is if the improvements are cheapish (say £500 loft insulation or the like) then I would spend that. Major spend don't do unless you have to (eg. unles boiler is knackered). As I have said I will likely install solar power but not till after the bill has reached Royal assent, and even then I will try and 'bribe' some of my tenants to leave and sell

Reply to the comment left by Helen at 22/05/2023 - 22:23
Mortgage lenders will not be allowed to lend unless the property is A-C EPC under the legislation

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 27/05/2023 - 10:18
Thats not actually true, a 'percentage' of their lending must be to A, B or C - but no one knows what that is yet

I suspect dodgy EPC certificates may become more common...

EPC grades are currently focused on energy cost in £. The push from the eco lobby is for lower carbon cost, not lower £ cost. And the easiest way to improve carbon cost is through renewables and they produce electricity. But electricity is 3 to 4 times the cost in £ compared to gas.
The govt doesn't know what to do. Keep the EPC system as it is, then we will be making our homes cheaper to run for tenants, but we won't be doing much for our carbon footprint.
Change the EPC rating to reflect carbon footprint, and the cost of heating a home will remain roughly static, but rents will rise enormously to pay for it. Even if you spend £8k on a heat pump, plus another £30k on external insulation and upgrading the radiator and pipe sizes, there will be no £ advantage for the tenant. The gains in heat efficiency of a heat pump are outweighed by the higher cost of electric compared to gas.
One estimate is that there are 4.5 million rented homes in the UK with a rating of D or below. That's about 25 times the number of new homes built each year. The UK just simply does not have the contractors available to suddenly externally insulate and re-plumb 25 times the number of properties that are currently being built each year.

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 22/05/2023 - 12:24
As I see it the biggest problems with EPC rating is that they are not consistent. I have two identical properties one is rated C the other D. The people who do the certificates have earned their accreditation by doing an online course, they have no technical ability or qualifications, yet these people can say whether or not a property is energy efficient enough to rent. They have the capacity to cause a lot of expense for the LL or even put him out if business.
These pop up businesses to supply the rental industry are raking in more money than the LL, the government also get their cut in the form of stealth taxes applied to all of the checks necessary to function in the industry.
Take for example the electrical checks, boiler checks, carbon monoxide checks, salmonella monitoring checks, fire safety and extinguisher checks. I'm sure I've missed a few. These people including letting agents all making a living off the back of the LL, but of course, its only the LL who takes the risk. They all still get their cut even if the tenant defaults on his rent.
Imagine the panic to get EPC's done to come in line with new legislation, imagine how demand for tradespeople to do the work will be in short supply, imagine what the increase in charges will be then.
I tried to get ahead of the curve and installed double glazed units in three small one bed flats in order to achieve a C rating. The local council have put an enforcement on me to 'take them out and replace with original single pane units'. No wonder the LL feels likes the most maligned operative on the planet.
I have come to the conclusion that the government actually wants to hound us out of business because they are incompetent and can't supply the 11.5m people who rent with homes. They feel the need to beat us with a big stick because we can actually do that job and it embarasses them.

Nearer the deadline I shall be searching for those 'professionals' that I can pay to state my properties are not suitable for certain 'upgrades' so I can get exemption.

Why? because potentially if things do move to a min C, there will be one almighty rush for work to be done as everyone has been holding off not wanting to spend anything because noone knows if the date when you can account for the works to be classed within the 'spend period' (whether £10k or otherwise).
As a result work will be expensive (everyone on the bandwagon) and there wont be enough qualified labour to go around (especially if the govt state all must be registered to their defined standard). There will be a lot of start ups pursuaded by the £'s and shoddy work will be inevitable.

I'd rather get exemption, bide my time and then do upgrades when I have more confidence of the system and have some idea where the government is heading. At the mo its all speculation and I'm not investing in speculation!

Reply to the comment left by Jessie Jones at 27/05/2023 - 20:42
Government war mongering at play here.

They hope people will jump to get things done to reach the magic C rating before anything becomes set in legal stone...
the longer they hold out nailing their 'plans', means the whole issue can be kicked down the road and left for someone else to deal with (cue Klimate Keir???).

They know know net zero is unachievable - so all that will happen (as is now) a serious of more viable initiatives and objectives will be set to achieve a modified end result (figure itself distorted) , yet made still to look like they are on target track. Hogwash.