MSE News: Landlords to be forced to improve energy efficiency of homes

chattychappy

Yep more regulation. I have an HMO with 5 tenants. We all get on fine. Building is in a conservation area and the freeholder is a pain to deal with. Any modifications are a non-starter without putting rents up. We charge below market rents cos most of the tenants have been there ages and we want to keep them. Still charging them 10p/unit for electricity cos I know the wall heaters are a bomb to run in the winter. We actually make little profit (we make money out of the rest of the building which is commercial).

Just had to pay a grand (=£200/tenant) to a council busy body to do her inspection for a new licence.

We will have to put the rents up to cover any additional costs. Our tenants hate this stuff as much as us. In fact one of them encountered the council woman and had a right barney when the woman said she was doing it for "his" protection. The tenant resented the fact that the woman was demanding to see his room.

Landlords are a hated species. They are exploiters who trouser loads of cash. They are seen as fair game for these impositions.

jjlandlord

chattychappy wrote: »

Landlords are a hated species. They are exploiters who trouser loads of cash. They are seen as fair game for these impositions.

Of course, only unionised public sector employees with a work for life are allowed to exploit tenants!

chattychappy

jjlandlord wrote: »

Of course, only unionised public sector employees with a work for life are allowed to exploit tenants!

The tenant in question had an encounter with another council busy-body only weeks earlier. He had ignored the voter registration form, so they sent someone around. Paradoxically he gave her a lecture about how where he'd come from (an eastern european country), people had fought to replace communism with democracy so they could be free not to vote. She bravely pointed out that there was still no obligation to vote but spoilt it by saying that the government just wanted to keep their records up to date. Various references to communist record keeping were made. The woman then tried saying that it would be good for him to be on the roll so he could get a credit card. He told her that he already had one and asked her to leave. She warned him he could get fined, but nothing happened. He has since registered anyway so that he can vote UKIP!

captainhindsight_2

stator wrote: »

The problem is basically this:
Tenant views house, sees Double Glazing, checks it has cavity wall insulation, loft insulation etc, good boiler. Tenant looks at EPC, it shows a B, thinks great, I'll rent this house. Tenant signs contract and moves in. Then tenant finds out the energy bills are 50% higher than he thought because he now has to pay for improvements he thought were already included in the rent.
Landlord is laughing all the way to the bank because he's getting someone else to pay for the upgrades to his house. Just another way for slumlords to rip off their tenants.

If a property has a green deal loan attached to it, it will clearly state it on the EPC. This is one reason why it is so important to look at the EPC before buying or renting a property.

So if some one moves into a house that has a green deal finance on it, it is their own fault for not reading the information provided to them.