EPC C targets should not require landlords to raise rents claims government

I think the problem we have is that come the new government in 2029 (whatever the Colour) these measures will NOT be reversed. Neither will the IHT on pension surplusses. The problem for any new government is that the revenue from these measures will have become ‘main stream’ and factored in to the government income. So no matter the best intentions they will remain as the government needs the money.

Reply to the comment left by Peter Smith at 27/01/2026 – 06:26
I wonder how many others have been caught out by not having ugly, expensive, inefficient storage heaters that tenants can’t programme, but will downgrade the EPC if you don’t have.

Reply to the comment left by The_Maluka at 26/01/2026 – 21:40
Yes I did and did you not see the annoyance in mine. I am also sick of all these expensive public inquiries , wasting tax payers money with no positive result.

Reply to the comment left by Peter Smith at 27/01/2026 – 06:26
If they are listed and the conservation officer says no then there’s no need to upgrade anyway – automatic concession. If you never had an EPC done you could have blindly ignored it. No need to obtain an EPC for a listed building but once you have one you can’t undo it sadly…

Reply to the comment left by Suspicious Steve at 27/01/2026 – 12:17
try finding a conservation officer! The council within which I have 2 x G2 Listed props, doesn’t even have one.
I shall be left with firing off EH listing, evidence from other sources to ‘prove’ that applying modern building techniques IWI/EWI will only mean inevitable damage as it will stop the building being able to function as originally intended. You can’t apply modern standards to old buildings.

Thick solid walls ensure no excessive heat in the summer, ironically enough another measure that has to be taken into building ‘fabric’ balance consideration.

🤣🤣🤣. And government overspending should not require governments to raise taxes either 🤣🤣🤣

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 27/01/2026 – 12:34
Owners of period buildings have been applying modern building techniques for decades, because they either know any better or don’t care about the damage this causes. I don’t think the likes of mad Ed or the Net Zero Club give a damn either .

Reply to the comment left by Suspicious Steve at 27/01/2026 – 12:17
I believe the automatic exemption or applying for an exemption to building control at your council have all been removed. Listed buildings are now treated the same as any other building. There is/will be a national database for exemptions. Someone in a listed building can register for “solid wall” exemption and “negative impact” exemption. You don’t have to be a listed building to apply for the “solid wall” exemption. They are not going to make people add insulation to solid walls. If any works devalue your building by more than 5% you can also use that as an exemption. So once you’ve turned down wall insulation (fabric first approach) my understanding is you then have to look at heat pumps and solar panels. A lot of buildings can’t have a heat pump. Regards solar panels don’t let a solar panel installer say your roof is okay for solar panels without 3rd party advice. A neighbour had solar panels installed on an old building and the roof couldn’t take it. Leaks all over. They had to remove the panels and put on a new roof at a cost of 90K. So having to replace a roof is always going to be above 10K so again an exemption will apply. So I believe our building will be eligible for an exemption as many others might be.
Someone mentioned that heat pump installation will be capital. If you are replacing air space heating already and replace it with heat pump the whole installation will be revenue expense. You have to replace a heating system that’s already there. Apparently solar panels with a battery if replacing a heating system is also revenue. It’s in the gov doc published the other day

To attain EPC C on one of my rentals that’s a ground floor flat, I’ll have to dig up and insulate the floor. So I’d have to fit new kit and bathroom too = Tenants evicted while work’s done.

No way’s it worth the nightmare of major works just to improve the EPC.
I don’t care if the govn’t will pay thousands towards the cost. Don’t they realise that money isn’t enough.
I don’t want the hassle. Its impossible to find decent trust worthy competent builders.
So I’ll simply sell it.

So 1 less rental, meantime the govn’t are over burdening housing, especially rentals with millions of immigrants 🤔

Furthermore as far as I’m aware the new EPC algorithm doesn’t even take into account the fact that all electric homes have lower carbon footprint than gas, thanks to green generated electricity

I wrote to Julian Lewis MP. He passed letter onto Lord Callanan who replied with generic email ignoring the science I pointed out 🤔

So it seems EPC’s are geared for heating cost not CO2 emissions.

But if the main aim is net zero then the EPC software algorithm should allow for the fact around 40% of electricity is from renewable sources so lower CO2.
Therefore this should help all electric homes get a better EPC rating than gas heated.
But it doesn’t seem as if this is the case.
As the algorithm seems to be geared for heating costs instead.
So if theyre not going to factor in green aspect of electricity into the EPC algorithm, then it’s the wrong tool to use as part of the aim of achieving net zero.
How mad is that?
£100 of billions will be spent All guided by a duff EPC algorithm 🤔🙄

And having just read one of the govn’t docs it looks like unscientific word salad to me. Should have been written by Physicists not bureaucrats.
Meantime China and India with a combined pop’n of something like 30x that of the UK, continue to build coal fired power stations. It’s all a total farce. Overseen by basket case Milliband who needs sectioning under the mental health act

Reply to the comment left by Pobinr at 27/01/2026 – 18:57
Agree it’s madness.They can tell you this is what you have to do to achieve an EPC with no guarantee, then try and find a decent builder, again no guarantee plus the hassle.Then after all this what difference will it make when China, India and the US ignore Net Zero.