Landlords will have an extra two years to make their rental properties more energy efficient after the government pushed back the deadline for meeting tougher environmental standards, in a move designed to ease pressure on the private rented sector.
Under the £15 billion Warm Homes Plan, announced earlier this month, privately rented homes in England will now need to achieve a minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of C by 2030, rather than the previously proposed 2028 deadline. The change was confirmed by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, alongside a reduction in the maximum amount landlords will be required to spend on upgrades.
Ministers also confirmed that the cost cap on mandatory improvements will be lowered from £15,000 to £10,000 per property. The cap will be set lower where £10,000 represents 10 per cent or more of a property’s value, and any qualifying energy efficiency works carried out since October last year will count towards the limit.
The changes form part of the government’s broader Warm Homes Plan, which aims to cut energy bills, improve housing standards and reduce carbon emissions across the UK’s ageing housing stock.
At present, landlords are only required to ensure properties meet a minimum EPC rating of E in order to be legally let. EPCs rate homes on a scale from A to G, with A the most energy efficient and G the least, and certificates are valid for 10 years. Failure to comply can result in substantial fines and restrictions on letting properties.
According to data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, around 2.6 million privately rented homes, roughly 60 per cent of the sector, currently have an EPC rating of D or below, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing landlords.
The two-year extension was welcomed by landlord groups, who have long argued that the original 2028 target was unworkable. National Residential Landlords Association said the revised timetable was more realistic.
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, said: “We have long supported the need to improve the energy efficiency of the rental housing stock. However, the Government’s initial proposals were simply unrealistic and had no hope of being delivered within the timescales originally set out.
“The Government has clearly listened to our pragmatic proposals to improve its plans, and we look forward to working with it to ensure its ambitions work in practice.”
However, renter advocacy groups were more critical, warning that lowering the cost cap could leave some tenants living in poorly insulated homes. The Renters’ Reform Coalition said government data suggests more than one in ten rented homes could fall outside the requirement to reach EPC C as a result of the £10,000 limit.
Niamh Evans, policy officer at the coalition, said: “Lowering the cap from £15,000 to £10,000 means many tenants in the worst insulated homes will, quite literally, be left in the cold, because their landlords won’t be required to bring them up to EPC C.
“We’re also concerned the Government has still not set out protections to stop landlords raising rents or evicting tenants after upgrades, particularly where taxpayer-funded grants are used.”
The reforms come after years of uncertainty for the sector, with EPC rule changes repeatedly delayed and revised. While the government insists the extended deadline strikes a balance between environmental ambition and market reality, critics argue that without stronger safeguards, the burden of the transition risks falling unevenly on tenants.
Ministers say further details on enforcement and renter protections will be set out ahead of the 2030 deadline.
