EPCs for the PRS: Ed Miliband fires the starter gun for a landlord exodus

EPCs for the PRS: Ed Miliband fires the starter gun for a landlord exodus

9:36 AM, 2nd August 2024, About 3 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.

Landlords would be happy to improve their property

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.

How many landlords will sell up?

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


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Alison Clark

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13:45 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 03/08/2024 - 12:51
Thank you. Your advice is noted and appreciated!

Alison Clark

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13:48 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 03/08/2024 - 13:14
Thank you. I’m guessing there would be a cost attached to a court injunction and a time period?

TheC IsHere

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13:50 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Lot of whiny comments here about upgrading your property to normal standards for the 21st C. If you cannot upgrade to a C then what are your properties like? No Double glazing? No insulation? No central heating? Old properties can be upgraded for little relative cost with imagination (e.g. thermally insulating wallpaper, or slightly more for insulated plasterboard. There is a £7500 grant as well for insulation or double-glazing or other energy saving measures. Too many landlords regard BTL as a cash cow with no effort required by them to house people properly. When I upgraded a flat to C in 2022 (already double-glazed) I added external wall internal insulation and put in remote programmable system with rad valves (Drayton Wiser) for about £600 including labour - saved tenants a fortune in bills and also meant my property looked after itself in terms of damp, etc. And there is an extensive nationwide insulation programme for public sector housing so it is not private landlords being picked on.

TheC IsHere

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13:58 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

You dont need all of these to get EPC C
How to Improve EPC Rating from E to C

New energy efficient lighting (LEDs)
Improved wall insulation and roof insulation (can insulate internally for external walls and roof)
A more efficient heating system (e.g. Drayton Wiser, Nest, etc)
Double glazing – or, if you already have this, triple glazing. In listed buildings (where there may be restrictions), secondary glazing is a good option
Less wasteful domestic appliances
Solar panels or other features that utilise renewable energy (don't need this for C)
Draught proof doors and windows – and other methods to prevent heat egress (who hasn't done this? Costs about £20! In 2 hours work if already have double glazing!!

GlanACC

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14:48 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by TheC IsHere at 03/08/2024 - 13:58
Had one property upgraded, extra loft insulation, solar and new hot water tank. Tenants are complaining property is too hot !

TheC IsHere

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14:56 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 03/08/2024 - 14:48
Even if gets warmer (as mine did) is easier to cool (especially in winter) than heat. And in summer can use the solar for A/C.

GlanACC

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15:16 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by TheC IsHere at 03/08/2024 - 14:56
Good idea, I will ask the tenants to buy a portable A/C unit .. however wont work at night as solar has no battery storage and I am not going to pay for that (system installed under ECO4)

Beaver

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16:18 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by TheC IsHere at 03/08/2024 - 13:58
The problem with the EPC system is that some assessors make filling your cavity wall with insulation a prerequisite of the upgrade. And the trouble with that is that on some properties filling the cavity is damaging...the cavity is actually needed to prevent problems with damp.

To fit internal insulation you have to rip the inside of the house apart. It's too much work to do with the tenant in situ, so you evict the tenant and then you either (a) sell (b) upgrade the internal insulation and sell (to someone who charges a higher rent or doesn't rent the property) (c) upgrade the internal insulation and rent the property out at a higher rent.

So making all rental properties band C will raise rents indirectly by reducing the supply of rental properties or raise rents directly as landlords either recover the cost of their investment or service their borrowings. And for small landlords who can't deduct all the cost of their borrowings against rents they will raise rents even higher.

All rental properties Band C = Higher rents for tenants

Mick Roberts

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16:51 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by TheC IsHere at 03/08/2024 - 13:50
Mine have all the things u say.
Double glazing, latest boiler, composite doors, insulation. Only way to a C is £6000 internal insulation.
My EPC man is also a mate.
I know all about the grants. I'm normally first in the UK to get the free boilers and that.
My tenants also don't want their home ripping apart they've lived in for 27 years at a cheap rent they don't want increasing to pay for stuff they don't want where grant may not be available.
These rules are only thought of with regards to Landlords REALLY WANTING their house and charging top whack.
There is no thought to the landlord who's looking after tenant with cheap rent and on verge of wanting to pack up, one more thing pushes him her over the edge and homeless.

Mick Roberts

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16:54 PM, 3rd August 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 03/08/2024 - 16:18
Well said Beaver, U say it EXACTLY as it is on ground level with real world tenants.

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