Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s scrapping of legal requirements for residential landlords to meet minimum energy efficiency standards has been welcomed by leading Midlands estate agents DM & Co. Homes.
Mr Sunak has announced that no legislation will be introduced requiring property owners to make energy efficiency improvements.
But he also pledged that extra money would be made available to those who wanted to replace their gas boilers with heat pumps.
Gabrielle Argue, head of lettings at DM & Co. Homes, explained that removing the threat of law along with a more persuasive approach would be music to landlords’ ears at a time when the economy was only just recovering.
Ms Argue said: “Dropping the stick and offering a bigger carrot is a major step in the right direction by Rishi Sunak.
“It’s important that the government is still committed to achieving net zero by 2050, but incentivising energy efficiency rather than mandating it is a reasonable, grown up and admirable stance for the prime minister to take.
“Forcing landlords to upgrade the energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of their properties would have been incredibly expensive, especially given the age of the majority of rented property across the UK.
“Ruling out any such legislation will provide some much-needed relief to hard-pressed landlords, many of whom have been extremely worried by the potential investment needed to at a time when their budgets are so squeezed.”
Instead of legislation forcing energy efficiencies, Mr Sunak has announced that the boiler upgrade scheme will be increased from £5,000 to £7,500 with “no strings attached”.
This grant is available to support the installation of heat pumps and biomass boilers in homes and non-domestic buildings in England and Wales.
Ms Argue added: “We welcome this move to incentivise and encourages landlords rather than penalise them, and increasing the grant by 50% is a much better offer given the costs involved.
“This will allow the sector to plan these improvements on an affordable schedule, which is much more palatable for landlords with large portfolios.”
