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

Reply to the comment left by LythamLee at 27/01/2026 – 05:17
Liebour = Labour.
The lying party.

The more I think about it, the more I think that Labor are taking a note out of Trumps play book.

Threaten people with the worst possible scenario and then at the last minuet back down to what people will accept to get a good and better deal than he expected.

With the amount of low value houses, that the banks will not be interested in, due to the cost of upgrading them from lets say an E to a C, and low rents that are paid by people that may or not pay something has to give. I have no intention of buying any low value houses that will only ever be let to council tenants.

No government can afford to make this many people homeless in 2030 if all landlords do nothing until the 30th Dec 2029.

The conservatives backed down and Labor have to.

Can you imagine the property price crash if they don’t, how much money is going to cost them in capital gains tax and stamp duty that they rake in if they don’t? It would be in the Billions.

The only good side of this is the less I sell my houses for, the less capital gains tax the government make.

When due to the amount of houses involved in the entire UK, they may have to listen? Are they really out to crash the lucrative housing market and loose both Capital gains tax and Stamp duty on Millions of houses?

Hopefully by 2030 Labor will be gone. I’ve always said that I will never vote Reform, But if they come out and say that they will scrap the EPC C and stick to it, I will swallow my pride and vote for Reform.

I said a year ago that I intend to keep all of my houses for the next 10 years, I’m now not so sure.

Earlier this year I have invested what was supposed to be my next rental house in the stock market and the money is making way more than in a rental. I wish I had done it sooner.

I’m never buying another rental house.

Reply to the comment left by Desert Rat at 28/01/2026 – 16:54
For my two E rates properties I won’t be doing anything until this EPC C becomes law (it isn’t yet) and wont be doing anything until new EPC guidelines are published as you might spend money upgrading, then find out you have spent it on the wrong things.

For my EPC D property I might just bite the bullet and spend £7k on solar panels and a battery, this should just about push it to a C

He says
We have engaged with landlord and tenant groups.
Well the tenant groups hasn’t engaged with my tenants who wish to ask them What do you think is going to happen to my home of 22 years where I am
Paying £150pm below market rent?
Where my Landlord doesn’t want the house any more?

They assume all tenants paying top rent.

I forsee the use of S8 Ground 6 in possession claims will reach and all time high in around 2029….

If all EPC ‘upgrade ‘ works are to be regarded as capital spend then ….gain possession, do the work, sell the property, claim against the CGT being the norm…

If the government are arguing that tenants should not pay for the betterment, then buyers will if the banks are being also pushed to offer preferential mortgage rates and higher rates homes….

Are trying to say that rent increased wont be necessary as any expense will be regarded as a capital expense not working expense?

This ONLY applies if the ‘upgrade’s involves something new being fitted where nothing currently exists (and so ‘betterment’ to the property)

If the gas boiler has to be replaced to comply with the EPC diktat then this is not strictly betterment – it is simply replacing the existing heating system with another (just as it would be the case if the existing boiler broke down and a replacement needed) Same goes for a heat pump or indeed solar panels.

The other thing to factor in is the extra costs involved in changing an existing heating/water system. Scaffolding, pipework, radiators….. all of this is a working expense.

Working expenses WILL be factored into rent charges. If the government decrees that the LL must change the mechanism/product by which the same facilities (heating/hot water) are supplied to the tenant before the end of the existing product life, then guess what…the end user (and the one who benefits)… pays….

Reply to the comment left by Suicide Jockey at 26/01/2026 – 10:22
Liebour will be gone in 2029.
We may have a government who may say that they will do a uturn on further upgrade of EPC or allow more time and 5k maximum spend.
Even this is not right just to save around £100 per year. This is the reason they don’t want us to raise rents. We spend a lot of money, with not much savings for the tenants.
They are changing EPC weightings by end of December 2026.
They will also have different metrics for EPC towards the end of 2029.
If you an EPC done by 1st October 2029, it will last 10 years. After that EPC has to be done on new metrics, that will last for 10 years.
If after 1st October it is done with old metrics, then has to be done again by October 2030.
I have a mixture of properties of B to D, one being exempt (as whole building with flats is exempt), so far. I have started selling properties that are C and D. These are cheaper ones.
In 2 years, a lot of them would be gone, One B, C and 2 D’s will stay.
The one that is C is due to solar panels. Otherwise that property is the same as the other Ds in every way, insulation, the. Infact the one with C has an older boiler than the D ones. One of D has insulated external wall. So solar panels and heat pumps do get the property to B and C.
However, property with B EPC does not have cheaper bills.
Actually the bills are probably more expensive for a B EPC than C and D epc ones considering B is a 2 bedroom flat and C and Ds are 4 bedroom houses.
So Milibandwagon and his government have not done a proper research or any cost/benefit analyses to justify this expense. but just sitting at the desk feel the landlords need to spend money, making out they are helping tenants.
They don’t need to interfere in this at all, as they have no understanding in this area and they are not helping the British subjects.

Good summary of the consultation changes. The dual-metric approach (fabric first, then heating) is going to catch a lot of landlords off guard — especially the part about gas boilers likely capping you at D under the new methodology.
One thing worth flagging that I haven’t seen discussed much: properties that achieve EPC C under the current RDSAP system before October 2029 are deemed compliant for the remaining life of that certificate — up to 10 years. So a Band C secured in 2027 under the current rules could keep you compliant until 2037, regardless of how HEM would score the property.
That’s a meaningful window. The improvements that work now (loft insulation, cavity wall, heating controls) will still be valuable under HEM, but the assessment itself could be harder and more expensive once the new methodology kicks in.
For anyone trying to work out what their portfolio actually needs and what it’ll cost, I built a tool that pulls the live EPC register data and gives you itemised costs by region with grant eligibility — epcfix.co.uk. Bulk reports are £10 each for portfolios of 10+. Might save some of you the headache of getting three different quotes just to understand the scope.
The spend cap discussion is interesting too. If it’s pegged to property value rather than rental income, lower-value areas are going to get hammered disproportionately. Would be worth responding to the consultation on that point specifically.

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 26/01/2026 – 10:09
So my own property with gas will be no better than D, even with good loft insulation and quality double glazing yet I will keep lovely and warm. I could put in an ugly air source pump etc at vast expense, may not be efficient on a retro fit and i could freeze.No thank you.
As for rental with gas I would not rip out perfectly efficient expensive boilers to pay yet more money for an alternative risky system even if I could. Many properties will not have the land or freeholder permission to do this and solar panels alone will barely heat a home.