In September 2020 the government launched a consultation:

“Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes. We’re seeking views on proposals around raising energy performance standards for the domestic private rented sector in England and Wales. The government has committed to upgrade as many private rented sector homes as possible to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C by 2030, where practical, cost-effective and affordable.” 

In the core proposals:

1. Raising the energy performance standard to EPC Band C;

2. A phased trajectory for achieving the improvements for new tenancies only from 2025 and for all tenancies from 2028;

3. Increasing the maximum investment amount, resulting in an average per-property spend of £4,700 under a £10,000 cap;

Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

The government have not published a response to this consultation yet but there is legislation going through parliament which potentially could be amended:

“2. Privately rented properties (1) The Secretary of State must amend the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented 15 Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/962) to require that, subject to subsection (2)—

(a) all new tenancies must have an energy efficiency performance of at least EPC Band C from 31 December 2025; and

(b) all existing tenancies must be at least EPC Band C from 31 December 20, 2028, where practical, cost-effective and affordable as defined under section 1(4).

 (2) A landlord is exempt from the duty in subsection (1) to bring a property up 25 to EPC Band C if they meet the criteria for an affordability exemption, as may be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.”

Minimum Energy Performance of Buildings (No. 2) Bill (parliament.uk)

This, coming at a time when interest rates are rising and the full impact of the loss of tax relief on borrowing, has forced many landlords to consider selling up, but is there time to delay this?

According to a report in the Daily, Telegraph Government are about to publish the results of the consultation above and in that report, private landlords will be given an extension on properties with existing tenancies from 2025 to 2028 in line with properties which are new tenancies after the published deadline.

Landlords to get five years to hit net zero targets (telegraph.co.uk)