Gove calls for EPC upgrade delay for landlords

Gove calls for EPC upgrade delay for landlords

9:47 AM, 24th July 2023, About 10 months ago 44

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The Housing Secretary Michael Gove says the Government is ‘asking too much too quickly’ of landlords to comply with EPC measures by a proposed date of 2028, he told the Daily Telegraph.

Pointing to protests in Holland over tighter emissions regulations, Mr Gove says the ‘inflexible’ application of rules to reduce pollution will lead ‘to a backlash’.

And he says that the financial pressures facing landlords to upgrade properties to meet an EPC rating of C in the next few years mean ‘we should relax the pace’.

‘We’re asking too much too quickly’

In the interview, he said: “My own strong view is that we’re asking too much too quickly.

“We do want to move towards greater energy efficiency, but just at this point, when landlords face so much, I think that we should relax the pace that’s been set for people in the private rented sector, particularly because many of them are currently facing a big capital outlay in order to improve that efficiency.”

The move follows the drubbing last week of the Conservatives in two by-elections – and a close call in Boris Johnson’s former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

And former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith also says a rethink of net zero ambitions need rethinking.

Confirm a deadline for EPC upgrades

In response, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) says the Government needs to confirm a deadline for EPC upgrades so landlords can prepare and budget for the work.

The NRLA’s chief executive, Ben Beadle, said: “It is over two years since the Government completed its consultation on energy efficiency standards in rented homes.

“As a result of the delay in responding to this, there was never any hope of meeting the originally proposed deadlines, as we told the Minister earlier this month.”

He added: “The NRLA wants to see properties as energy efficient as possible, but the sector needs certainty about how and when this will happen.

“Ministers need to develop a proper plan that includes a fair financial package to support improvements in the private rented sector.

“We will continue to work with all parties to develop pragmatic and workable proposals.”


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Comments

GlanACC

9:17 AM, 29th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Jessie Jones at 29/07/2023 - 09:14
Yes, EPC's expire after 10 years. You are NOT required to renew them if the same tenant is in situ. They are only required for a new tenancy. When issuing an S21 (or now an S8) the court is only interested in was it presented when the tenant moved in. Currently they do not have the same status as a gas certificate or an EICR which must be current.

John Parkinson

9:31 AM, 29th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Andrew Wilkinson at 24/07/2023 - 18:02
There always a buyer at the right price

Whiteskifreak Surrey

11:56 AM, 29th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Jessie Jones at 29/07/2023 - 09:14
I am afraid Gove realises nothing of that sort or even if he does, it is irrelevant.
He realises that these regulations will cost him votes. Not only LLs' votes but tenants' too. Lots of tenants realise that the Cons and their relentless war on PRS is to blame for the current crisis.
He is just playing an understanding uncle to get elected to the parliament. When he is in the war will continue. I do not think Labour can be that much worse than Gove, but who knows....
I sincerely hope that his constituents will vote him out. Please - if there are any Gove's constituents here - do not vote for that lying charlatan!

Vic Maranian

0:17 AM, 30th July 2023, About 10 months ago

It is so sad to see the Conservatives punishing landlords in so many different ways since they came to power. They are pushing so many of us out of the PRS. As we know it just isn't EPCs it's a raft of many other punitive measures against us. So the majority of us leave the sector what's the problem? The local councils will house those we have looked after so well for so many years? Or will they?

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