9:36 AM, 2nd August 2024, About 5 months ago 91
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Here we go again with energy performance certificate (EPC) ratings needing to be a minimum of C for the private rented sector but not homeowners, social housing or government buildings.
Ed Miliband was rather slovenly when sprawling over the despatch box to tell MPs that landlords will have a deadline of 2030 to meet. That’s a deadline after Labour gets voted out of office.
The big worry for me is that the EPC move will be riding on the coattails of a new Renters’ Rights Bill which will undermine and scare many landlords.
I’m also concerned that the people making the decisions don’t understand energy performance certificates.
If they did, they’d know they aren’t worth the paper they are printed on.
I fear though that we will be coerced into going down this route since BTL mortgage lenders offer the carrot of cheaper rates for those who meet the EPC criteria.
However, in all of this, no one ever appears to consider the plight of the tenants.
They will in effect – if Labour don’t bring in a rent cap – be paying for improvements with higher rents.
But what’s the payback for landlords? One year, two years, or more?
That’s a frightening prospect of not making a profit while the tenant enjoys higher rents and (slightly) cheaper fuel bills.
When campaigning, Miliband and Sir Kier said energy bills would drop by £300 a year – but they’ve been quiet on this number lately. And tenants won’t be saving £300 if the rent goes up by £1,500.
But there’s a bigger issue at stake that could put the skids under this plan.
Not only is Labour being shy about the £300 (and Angela Rayner’s vow to ban Section 21 evictions on ‘day one’), but they are also not talking about the energy price cap going up in the autumn and again January. That’s a double whammy hitting pensioners.
We can add that to the already ever-growing list of failed promises for a government that has had the shortest honeymoon period in political history.
I’m pretty sure those pensioners who won’t get the heating allowance will be dancing in the streets as their heating bill rockets.
Let’s face it, most landlords would be happy to improve their property if it was cost-effective and helped increase its value.
But reading Property118 on this issue highlights that the assessors have a lot to answer for by ‘assuming’ a lot of the answers. Usually, wrongly.
Different assessors find different ratings for the same property. Surely, the job can’t be that hard, can it?
Again, politicians of a left bent don’t appear to understand the private rented sector and the implications that come when imposing new rules and laws.
Especially when they cost money.
We are now looking at fed-up landlords who don’t want to upgrade or can’t afford to and have to decide what they should do next.
It also means carrying out the work in a void or putting the tenants up in a hotel. I doubt we’ll be able to evict to get an empty property.
We also need to find someone to do the work.
Good luck with that since all the builders will be busy delivering Angela Rayner’s promised 1.5 million new homes. As if!
It will be a faff organising an assessor, arguing about why it doesn’t reach a C and then being told – hopefully in writing – what needs to be done.
Then you’ll have to spend money on the work and STILL not be guaranteed a C rating.
The whole thing is bonkers.
Ed Miliband will get my support when social housing has to comply with the rules, but no one ever asks why they don’t.
And for those who will wait to see what the law will be, you could be leaving things very late and might get caught out.
Or you could carry out the work for the rule to be dropped Rishi-like when it’s convenient to do so.
This brings me neatly to calculating how many landlords will sell up to avoid the C rating nonsense.
If it takes a few years to recoup the expenses, then why not dish out a section 21 notice to sell the property? [Editor’s note: This sentence has been corrected].
It might be a struggle in front of a judge, but older landlords can say they are selling up to retire and the property is their pension pot.
Younger landlords? Judges might not be so keen if there are lots of landlords doing this though I’d imagine that would be a news story.
What if it is a landlord with a leasehold property and the freeholder declines to carry out improvements?
The more I think of the potential issues, the more I think it’s just easier to bale out altogether.
It’s the lack of joined up thinking by politicians that makes me nervous.
The portrayal of landlords as being greedy and unkind to tenants isn’t going to improve soon.
It will get worse but because the good and kind landlords – that’s most of us, Ed – are already fed up, it needs action from Labour to keep us in the PRS.
To make our point we must either sell up as one body or fight the portrayal of landlords as tenant exploiters.
Politicians can’t dictate how we are portrayed with a caveat they aren’t pointing at all landlords, just the criminal ones.
That isn’t true because you could easily say we are a crucial and respected part of the housing sector. But you don’t.
You could say that landlords should be helped by the government and not victimised. But you don’t.
I’m sure that the sound of landlords marching out of the sector and reducing rented home supply might get your attention.
And if it does, you will portray us as selfish and greedy and leaving tenants homeless.
We can’t win. Things were bad under the Tories but my good goodness, Labour look set to plunge to a new low in playing the blame game.
Until next time,
The Landlord Crusader
Yellard
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Sign Up0:09 AM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Mark Cairns at 02/08/2024 - 10:12
Any landlord who can't see that rent controls are comimg is very silly.
The reduced supply of private accommodation from excessive EPC demands and the ending of fixed term tenancies will further enable the government to claim rent cap rents are necessary.
GlanACC
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Sign Up7:50 AM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Will these new EPC requirements drive up rents by £200 or £300 a month , the simple answer is NO. Landlords may spout that this is what they will increase rents by but most tenants are probably already at the limit they can pay.
All that will happen is landlords will sell up or more rent arrears or landlords will have to suck it up.
Happily, I have reduced my portfolio from 18 to 6 properties and am now mortgage free, so I could just about afford the maximum £10k per property to upgrade ( I have 2 x E and 2 x D).
For those still with mortgages it will be an easy decision - sell.
Will F
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Sign Up9:10 AM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Mark Cairns at 02/08/2024 - 10:12
Fully agreed. These whiny articles are not reflective of the views of most professional landlords I know. I constantly invest in my portfolio to ensure high standards. All upgraded to EPC C years ago. I continue to invest in new properties and have absolutely no issue with ensuring they are all EPC C.
If it’s not economic to bring a run down property to a rentable standard then you have paid too much for it.
Unsurprisingly this is why old Victorian townhouses are cheaper. There is no free lunch.
Being a landlord is not a unionised cartel. It’s a business. Those businesses that can compete are successful and those who cannot will sell or fail.
Mick Roberts
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Sign Up9:19 AM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Will F at 03/08/2024 - 09:10
I paid 14k for my houses and it's not economical to bring up to C.
On the 30% below market rents some are paying.
And the business is doing ok. Before these changes that is. It's the MP's not giving any consideration to
Hang on a minute, what if some landlords are charging cheap rent trying to be loyal to long term tenant?
What if tenant doesn't want it doing?
What if already new boiler, new windows etc. it's not like they are run down.
GlanACC
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Sign Up9:26 AM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 03/08/2024 - 09:19
Under the previously proposed legislation tenants CAN refuse the upgrade and you can register this and get an exemption for 5 years.
Will this proposal be allowed by Red Ed I wonder, and will he expect landlords to put up tenants in temporary accommodation if an upgrade is forced.
I am near you Mick and for me its just about worth doing an upgrade but you are right, these old terraced houses costing £14K or the like just won't be worth upgrading.
Alison Clark
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Sign Up11:53 AM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 02/08/2024 - 19:07
That’s ridiculous. So how are you supposed to renew the yearly gas certificate! Bonkers! If there was a problem with the gas the LL would be the first person penalised!
Alison Clark
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Sign Up11:55 AM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Yellard at 03/08/2024 - 00:09
I’ve not heard much recently about ending the fixed term tenancies? As anyone else?
Landlord X
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Sign Up12:20 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Honestly I really don’t see the problem, it’s like the government have made a problem up in their head.
This is an open market, old houses new houses little ones big ones… and the consumer has a choice so they can either rent it or not…. Im pretty sure us landlords will carry out any works required to ensure we achieve a tenancy and one at a price we want. It’s so hypocritical to then have an ideology to improve the energy performance of homes but not the ones they are responsible for…. I wonder if they will vote for a pay rise again but inform all other public sector workers there will be a pay freeze.
Reluctant Landlord
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Sign Up12:51 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Alison Clark at 03/08/2024 - 11:53
if the tenant refuses access to allow a contractor in to carry out the annual check (and I have had it myself) then all you can do is keep a log of how and when you contacted them to ask for permission to carry this out. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do if a tenant refuses access to you unless you can prove it was an emergency situation.
In this case after 3 attempts I said to the tenant that another tenant has reported a gas smell (they hadn't!) and that the contractor would be going in at X time on X day as we believed there could be a leak coming from their flat. A possible gas leak would be regarded as an emergency - then at least you got the check done 😉
The other issue is having been given access you find there is no money on the meter and therefore no gas in the system. Gas needs to be flowing for a gas check to happen as the boiler has to be run even only for a short while, so in some cases I have had failed call outs because tenants did not want to top the meter up. In that case again you cannot do a test so keep a log of the communication with them to ask them to put money on the meter so the check can go ahead.
My contracts state property has to be adequately heated etc so you could use this as a breach of contract if it continued. In the end I told the council they send her a DHP form and she go a payout to feed the meter. As soon as that was done, I got the check carried out, but was 4 months past the last gas check expiry. Nothing I could do.
As I say, if you have to go through all this for legal utility checks, there is no way you are going to get access to do any EPC upgrades if the tenant says no. Upgrades are not classed as an emergency so the LL can't use that as a reason for entry.
Monty Bodkin
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Sign Up13:14 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 5 months ago
if the tenant refuses access to allow a contractor in to carry out the annual check (and I have had it myself) then all you can do is keep a log of how and when you contacted them to ask for permission to carry this out. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do
You can get a court injunction, social housing landlords often have to do this.