Greater support needed for Landlords with low EPC ratings

Responding to the announcement today that those landlords in properties with an energy performance rating of F or G will be expected to pay up to £3,500 to improve the energy efficiency rating of the property, David Smith, Policy Director for the Residential Landlords Association said:

“The proportion of private rented homes with the worst energy efficiency ratings of F or G has fallen from 39% in 1996 to 7% in 2016. Whilst good news, we should seek to ensure every private rented property is as energy efficient as possible.

“To help achieve this, the RLA produced recommendations for the Budget, which were ignored, that any work a landlord carries out that is recommended on an Energy Performance Certificate should be tax deductible.

“It is bizarre that, for example, replacing a broken boiler is classed as a tax deductible repair, but this is not the case if a landlord wants to replace an old boiler with one that is more energy efficient.”