Call to impose EPC rules on landlords as tenants ration energy

Why are our energy costs 4× those in the USA? Miliband is to blame, not landlords. Tenants and Citizen’s Advice need to redirect their anger.

How on earth does this becomes a story worth putting out there?

It doesn’t matter what, we all have to ration energy, prices are high, landlord or not it’s called responsible living !

I turn radiators down, off in rooms I won’t be using, it’s just common sense so why is it different if you are a renter?

“… many homes are particularly deteriorated due to salty sea air and high winds.”

Just what would Shelter suggest LLs do in these circumstances? I’d like to see their suggestions for preventing and repairing such deterioration. Stop the high winds maybe? Where does their “blame the (private) LL” narrative end? They have no credibility with such nonsensical ranting.

Struggling with fuel prices is not unique to renters, so the answer lies with the Government to produce a solution to help all citizens, not just renters.

Those houses with high EPC’s still doesn’t mean a tenant does not have to heat it properly (or ventilate for that matter)

All EPC’s still refer to average consumption of energy for that property, meaning the cost of doing that is still based on what they unit cost is which is out of their control.

If £20 a week is all they can afford then that’s it. It still might not be enough in a C rated property to achieve the healthy ‘average’.

I’m considering using the EPC average consumption to work out the average cost per annum then working out from the income if the T can actually afford this at the affordability/referencing stage.

If we are gearing up towards the new S8 process – a breach of tenancy agreement may well involve a lack of adequate heating as part of the reason within the ground used (especially if damage via condensation/mould is being made.) It also sees off any counter claim sharpish too.

The charity warns that delays to imposing tighter EPC rules will leave tenants stuck in uncomfortable and costly homes for years to come.

There is nothing stopping any tenant giving notice to move elsewhere at any time if they are ‘uncomfortable’.

Reply to the comment left by K Anon at 16/09/2025 – 10:14
Saved me replying!

The real reason for high energy bills is the absurd move from reliable generation with ‘inertia’ built in meaning that generation continues with fuel input fluctuation to ‘if the sun don’t shine’ instant off solar and wind which causes dangerous imbalance between supply and demand, solution a secondary backup at huge standby cost while the same ‘renewable’ industry gets paid for electricity in excess if demand, it’s a scam of mammoth proportion.

I would be interested to see figures for the cost of heating a home that scrapes an EPC C rating compared to one that is at D or E. I suspect that on average it is a few hundred pounds a year.It may also be the case that the rent for a C-rated house is higher than a similar sized D or E-rated house. The problem is one of poverty and high energy costs.

If, as is proposed, landlords are to be required to spend at least £15,000 to attempt to upgrade to a C, it is likely that they will seek an increased rent of £100 a month or more. That will likely wipe out any saving in heating costs for the tenants.

The rental homes not in EPC band C or above are mainly in band D with relatively few in band E (the current minimum). The reason being the easy wins have mainly been taken, uPVC double glazing is now relatively cheap compared to maintaining old painted wooden windows and HMRC allow full offset against income tax as a replacement. Condensing combi boilers have been a legal requirement for both new and replacements for twenty years except in very limited circumstances.

In reality most of the remaining upgrades needed are expensive ones such as solid wall insulation on period homes or underfloor insulation to get from a D to a C rating.

So the saving won’t be anything like the £300+ per year in these cases if the starting point is a decent typical Victorian terraced with good loft insulation, double glazing and a combi boiler with TRVs on the radiators. But the cost to the landlord will be perhaps £10,000+ for the upgrades.

If Ed and Rachel are stupid enough to foot that bill fair enough, but my remaining rental – just one point off a C rating – will not be upgraded by me at my own expense at such a ridiculous cost (£10k is more than 10% of market value). The rent is currently at least 25% behind market.

Just so fed up with CAB and Shelter spewing out their biased, uninformed agenda which is actually going to mean less choice and more hardship for tenants in the longer term.

Why all the fuss re’ EPCs? LLs need to sit in a sleeping bag, use candles for lighting, wash in freezing water. Drink cold water, listen to a transistor radio, open windows for air conditioning and put their minds at rest whilst their ……… live like lords for free – simple!