Landlords face expensive EPC upgrades as Ed Miliband’s own home fails to meet targets

Landlords could face an eye-watering £28k to upgrade their properties to meet EPC C targets with student landlords being hardest hit.

Analysis by The Telegraph using public EPC and census data revals that university towns and cities have the highest concentration of inefficient homes, where many properties have an EPC score of D or lower.

The news comes after The Telegraph also reveals how despite Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, forcing landlords to meet EPC C targets, his own home barely scraped an EPC C target despite installing a heat pump.

Student landlords will simply decide to sell up

According to The Telegraph, one student neighbourhood in Hyde Park, Leeds saw one in six rental homes failing to meet EPC C targets. The average EPC score was 57, in the D band, with costs ranging from £13,700 to £28,700 to upgrade to a C rating.

Other student areas like Lenton (Nottingham), Fallowfield (Manchester), and Selly Oak (Birmingham) also had a high concentration of inefficient homes. Upgrading properties in these areas could cost between £9,000 and £27,000 depending on location.

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) warns many student landlords will simply decide to sell up rather than upgrade properties due to the expense.

Chris Norris, policy director of the NRLA, told The Telegraph: “Almost all student landlords with property below an EPC C would have to work towards the 2028 deadline since most students only stay one academic year.

“While landlords could use the void period in summer to make the upgrades. If a large volume of providers in an area all try to book in works at the same time, there simply will not be sufficient tradespeople to carry out the works.”

He adds: “Student landlords are looking at a very difficult period over the next few years as the combination of the Renters’ Rights Bill reforms and the Domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard hits.”

Many student homes are larger and older properties

One mortgage broker warns many student homes will be unable to meet EPC C targets and many landlords will drive rents up as a result.

Sean Horton, of broker Respect Mortgages, told The Telegraph: “It’s not just about slapping in some insulation, many student homes are large, older properties, needing major work.

“The timing couldn’t be worse. With margins already squeezed by regulatory changes and interest rates, many smaller landlords will simply sell up rather than spend over £10,000 on each property.”

Ed Miliband’s own home fails EPC C target

Ed Miliband has pushed for landlords to meet EPC C targets by 2028 for new tenancies and 2030 for existing ones, yet The Telegraph reports that his own home failed to meet these standards.

According to The Telegraph, an EPC assessment in 2023 on Mr Miliband’s property barely secured a D rating with 57 points. The assessor said the property did have a potential EPC C rating of 74 points.

A year later, after switching from a gas boiler to a heat pump, the home’s carbon emissions dropped from 12 tonnes to 4.5 tonnes, but its energy rating only just improved to a C.

However, the second assessment revealed Mr Miliband’s property recorded floorspace was 252 square metres, 30 square metres smaller than in the previous year’s EPC.

Elmhurst Energy, which carried out the second assessment, said the more recent floor measurement was consistent with a much older EPC assessment carried out in 2009 by the company. A spokesperson told The Telegraph the 2023 assessment was done by a different company.

Tom Garrigan, of the Building Services Research and Information Association, told The Telegraph it was strange why the property’s EPC details changed so much.

He said to The Telegraph: “If you took the address off both certificates, you would have no idea they were the same house.

“It’s difficult to say whether any remedial works have been done, or whether they were able to physically check insulation when they couldn’t before.

“It does beg the question around the policing of EPCs because surely if a house goes from 287 square metres to 225, I would expect something in the EPC to explain why that is.”