connect
Connecting North West business to relevant training, insight, conversation and each other
- Home |
- News |
- Newsletters & Updates |
- Rural e-news |
- What are the minimum energy efficiency standards for landlords and tenants?
What are the minimum energy efficiency standards for landlords and tenants?
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are documents outlining how energy efficient a property is. Properties are rated on a scale from A to G with A being very energy efficient and G being poor energy efficiency.
Since 1 October 2008 an EPC has been required on private rented property in England and Wales. There have been various updates to EPC regulations since then with recent substantive updates on 1 April 2018 and 15 March 2019.
The recent updates have provided that, subject to certain exemptions, landlords of domestic private rented properties must not grant a tenancy to new or existing tenants if the property in question has an EPC rating of F or G.
From 1 April 2020 landlords will not be able to continue to let domestic private rented properties (even if it is already let to a tenant) if that property has an EPC rating of F or G. Where a rental property does have a rating of F or lower landlords should take action as soon as possible to ensure that the meet the new minimum energy efficiency standard of an EPC E rating.
Where landlords continue to let properties that do not comply with the minimum E rating they will be liable to enforcement action by local authorities. Local authorities can check whether a property does comply with the minimum E rating. If it does not comply, a compliance notice can be issued on the landlord requesting further information. If the local authority is satisfied that a property has been let without adhering to the minimum energy efficiency standards it may serve further notice on the landlord imposing a financial penalty.
Where a landlord has let a property that does not meet the minimum EPC rating of E for a period of up to 3 months the local authority can impose a penalty of up to £2,000. Where the property has been let for three months or more without meeting the minimum EPC rating of E the penalty can be up to £4,000. In both cases the local authority can impose a further penalty if the local authority takes action to publish details of the breach on a public register.