EPC of C by 2025 for new tenancies and by 2028 for all existing tenancies

NOVAMET21

Is this currently on the consultancy process or has the Government made a decision to make this a rule?

Also do you think this is possible for all the tenancies?

ProDave

The whole what to do with the UK's lousy legacy housing stock has not been thought out.

We have headline policies like this one, and the boilers must be changed for heat pumps.  All good intentions but no detail about how to achieve it or who is going to pay for what in many cases will be a very substantial cost to upgrade them properly.

I have been of the opinion for several years that I would not buy a house worse than EPC C unless it was substantially cheaper than an equivalent better rated house.  We have already seen the very worst E and F houses shunned by landlords, and I predict a lot of the poorer houses in the rental market will just be sold, leaving the problem for owner occupiers to solve.  Whether the landlords selling them replace them with better houses or just quit rental remains to be seen, but policies like this will not lead to an increase in rental properties, it will likely lead to fewer rental properties.

So many rules with relation to rental properties are broken, I expect this is one that will be ignored by a lot of landlords.

dimbo61

While Landlords may ignore or play stupid over this they may end up very much out of pocket if Tenants can claim back all the Rent they have paid if the rental property does not meet the required standard.
It already happens with unlicensed HMO,s 

dimbo61

Huge number of old poorly maintained properties are going to be dumped on the market in the next 4 years.
Great you might say but they will be money pits 

p00hsticks

As now with the higher ratings, I predict there will be a 'get out' clause where landlords will be able to apply for an exemption.

There are huge swathes of old single-skin terraced properties in northern towns where the cost of making the necessary changes to bring the property EPC down to a C would be more than the house is worth, so unless the government is going to go in for mass 'slum clearance' initiatives there are gonig to have to be ways round it.

SpiderLegs

NOVAMET21 said:

Is this currently on the consultancy process or has the Government made a decision to make this a rule?

Also do you think this is possible for all the tenancies?

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Average for existing housing is around a mid D so we’re largely talking about incremental improvements to the majority that are currently under target.

If lower standard properties drop out of the rental stock because LL’s aren’t prepared to invest in them well, good.

K_S

NOVAMET21 said:

Is this currently on the consultancy process or has the Government made a decision to make this a rule?

Also do you think this is possible for all the tenancies?

@novamet21 Personally, I think this will happen eventually but perhaps not as per the currently indicated timelines. But nothing is set in stone yet. When it does come in, I expect that there will be plenty of exemptions for the first few years.

The noise is already having an effect on the market and I see quite a few BTL clients who are only buying EPC C rated properties or EPC D within touching distance of C with a few small/cheap tweaks.

I'm also seeing more enterprising LLs who are buying up cheap EPC F properties with cash or a bridging loan with the aim of improving it to a lettable EPC and then selling it or remortgaging+letting it.

As a broker, for BTL clients who are looking to buy properties with a rating lower than C, I always make sure to highlight the currently indicated timelines to them so they are aware of the risk and can do the necessary work to assure themselves that the property can indeed be improved EPC wise. Hopefully solicitors are also doing the same.

[Deleted User]

ProDave said:

The whole what to do with the UK's lousy legacy housing stock has not been thought out.

We have headline policies like this one, and the boilers must be changed for heat pumps.  All good intentions but no detail about how to achieve it or who is going to pay for what in many cases will be a very substantial cost to upgrade them properly.

I have been of the opinion for several years that I would not buy a house worse than EPC C unless it was substantially cheaper than an equivalent better rated house.  We have already seen the very worst E and F houses shunned by landlords, and I predict a lot of the poorer houses in the rental market will just be sold, leaving the problem for owner occupiers to solve.  Whether the landlords selling them replace them with better houses or just quit rental remains to be seen, but policies like this will not lead to an increase in rental properties, it will likely lead to fewer rental properties.

So many rules with relation to rental properties are broken, I expect this is one that will be ignored by a lot of landlords.

The only solution is to start demolishing large parts of many towns and rebuilding them to a higher standard. We could take the opportunity to improve quality of life as well.

It won't happen.

I am of a similar mind, an EPC rating of less than B requires a substantial discount to pay for remedial work.

MobileSaver

dimbo61 said:

Huge number of old poorly maintained properties are going to be dumped on the market in the next 4 years.

Seriously bad news for renters if that happens as rental properties disappear while other landlords have to pay out more to bring their properties up to any new standards; average rents will be going through the roof, especially at the lower end of the market!

davilown

Do we really expect any government to actually implement it at C? I suspect that they’ll be an age limit for those to get C or below as there’s a lot of houses that will get nowhere near it.