Government committee warns landlords don’t value EPCs
10 months ago | 8 comments
Landlords face soaring costs and EPC downgrades under new rules
10:10 AM, 17th June 2025, 10 months ago
31
Categories:
Landlords face “death by a thousand clipboard checks” over new EPC rules that have come into force.
The government announced the biggest changes in the way Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are assessed in more than a decade, with the introduction of the Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure (RdSAP)
However, experts warn the new updated system will increase costs for landlords.
The news comes after Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has proposed all private rented properties need to meet EPC C targets by 2030 and 2028 for new tenancies.
Price rises are inevitable
Under the new system, energy assessors will now collect more detailed information about a property, such as the type and condition of windows, heating system efficiency based on model numbers or manufacturer data, and whether smart heating controls are installed.
Landlord organisation iHowz previously told Property118 that while the change is welcomed, landlords should be aware that the increased data collection requirements may mean assessments take longer to complete.
The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has now warned that the extra time required for assessments means a rise in costs for landlords is “inevitable.”
Chris Norris, NRLA policy director, told The Telegraph: “It’s reasonable to assume that it will take assessors longer to take more precise measurements and input more specific data, so price rises are inevitable.”
Mr Norris warns the price of an EPC certificate, which typically costs between £50 and £120, could increase by £20 under the new system.
However, others warn the increase could be far higher.
Sean Horton, a mortgage adviser at Respect Mortgages, told The Telegraph that the more in-depth assessments could push EPC certificate prices up by £150 to £250.
He said to The Telegraph: “The window measurements alone are crackers. Instead of just noting ‘typical double glazing,’ assessors now need to measure each window individually, record orientations, frame types, glazing gaps, ages, draught proofing – the lot.
“That’s going to make each assessment much longer, with the cost passed on to the landlord.”
Homes could drop an EPC band
Experts warn that, alongside rising costs, the new EPC system may also cause some homes to drop an EPC band.
Kundan Bhaduri, of the Kushman Group real estate firm, told The Telegraph: “For portfolio landlords, this is death by a thousand clipboard checks.
“Costs will rise sharply, and worse still, homes that previously scraped a C rating could now drop to a D, dragging us into yet another regulatory penalty zone.”
Anna Moore, of retrofit company Domna, explains how the updated model affects energy ratings.
She says to The Telegraph: “The model changes how electric heating systems are scored, intended to solve the problem of people installing heat pumps and then seeing their EPC go down.
“The new model also lowers the ‘default assumptions’ on carbon emissions in traditionally heated homes, so many properties will see their EPC drop.
“For example, a 1960s 90m² home, with empty cavity walls, might drop five points from EPC D to EPC E.”
Despite the warnings, the government claims the new EPC system will “give people a clearer picture of how energy efficient their home is.”
Tags:
Energy Performance Certificate, EPC assessments, EPC band drop, EPC price increase, EPC rules, landlord costs, Landlords, property energy ratings, Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure
Comments
Have Your Say
Every day, landlords who want to influence policy and share real-world experience add their voice here. Your perspective helps keep the debate balanced.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
or
Previous Article
Councillor slams landlords for city's HMO supplyRelated Articles
Tenant group claims landlords can easily afford EPC upgrades
10 months ago | 82 comments
Government’s EPC targets for landlords are ‘unrealistic’ – NRLA
10 months ago | 18 comments
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 1999
1:01 PM, 17th June 2025, About 10 months ago
Reply to the comment left by northern landlord at 17/06/2025 – 12:12
I think that it was largely because of a debate about landlords pricing out first-time buyers that led to the conservatives and George Osborne finding that stopping non-incorporated, small portfolio landlords from offsetting their finance costs had become politically acceptable.
Of course, that doesn’t have any effect on any seriously rich landlord who can afford to buy a property outright, without finance; and it doesn’t affect incorporated businesses; it only affects a high proportion of the landlords with the lowest net-worth. But there’s not much point in being over-critical of George Osborne because labour are no better.
As for asylum seekers a band F property is probably still going to be better than a tent, a cardboard box or sleeping bag on the street, or a rubber boat. If the government’s contract with Serco allows a landlord to lease a band D, E or F property to Serco, I can see that becoming increasingly attractive to landlords with mortgaged properties. The people who will lose out here are the home-grown homeless and the social housing tenants who can’t find a way to move up the queue for social housing.
But that’s not the fault of landlords.
Can anybody see anything better about the revised EPC regulations? Are there any better options in there now that weren’t in there before?
Member Since June 2023 - Comments: 8
1:58 PM, 17th June 2025, About 10 months ago
Reply to the comment left by A Reader at 17/06/2025 – 10:11
The Govt want us to house migrants, are thy then going to pay towards the EPC’s then. When there are hardly any private landlords for them to bully, they will be begging us to come back. What they fail to grasp is that they need private landlords.
Member Since February 2023 - Comments: 5
2:18 PM, 17th June 2025, About 10 months ago
I read on gov.uk that they were considering using the weather in your area as a factor for your epc…sensible really…
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 1999
2:29 PM, 17th June 2025, About 10 months ago
Reply to the comment left by sarah Toth at 17/06/2025 – 14:18That would make sense.
Tenants don’t live on bits of paper called EPCs. They phone you up when the house is cold because the boiler breaks. Generally this is very infrequent with a modern condensing gas boiler.
If you put in everything to make your air-source heat pump work including the wall and floor insulation, under floor heating etc. then all the heat escapes out of the door when they open the door to bring the shopping in or let the dog out and it takes 4 hours to bring the property back up to temperature then the tenant’s “right to a warm and comfortable home” isn’t being looked after well, is it?
A south-facing property in a sunny area probably ought to have a better EPC. But does anybody know whether under the revised system it improves your EPC to add a porch, so that you can keep the hot air in? And does anybody know how much it improves your EPC to move from double to triple glazing? Or higher performance triple glazing?
Member Since February 2024 - Comments: 69
2:40 PM, 17th June 2025, About 10 months ago
Reply to the comment left by sarah Toth at 17/06/2025 – 14:18
oh, so people in the north have to insulate more than in the south east? orientation to the sun is of more use…
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 1999
3:20 PM, 17th June 2025, About 10 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Sally Robinson at 17/06/2025 – 14:40
True, I would have thought that south-facing in Norfolk would be warmer than north-facing in Cornwall.
Member Since May 2019 - Comments: 18
5:49 PM, 17th June 2025, About 10 months ago
Of course we can just put 2 fingers up to government. We would then have non compliant properties and have to evict tenants. What then? Of course we are more ethical and responsible than governments etc give us credit for, so we’re not going to do that. I’m still sitting it out for now and not making any decisions in haste.
Member Since March 2018 - Comments: 182
6:18 PM, 17th June 2025, About 10 months ago
If landlord costs will increase, EPC levels will drop, and tenants will be forced to cover the costs with higher rent .. why on earth are iHowz supporting these changes?
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 1999
11:11 AM, 18th June 2025, About 10 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Penny Lyon at 17/06/2025 – 17:49
My property is compliant today and I would regard myself to be an ethical person who is quite prepared to evict my tenants to do EPC upgrades IF I have to do them. If I have to evict then that’s the fault of government.
Today my tenants are happy with a safe, band D property and a modern condensing gas boiler. Doing anything else only increases my tenants’ energy costs, their rent and their tax bill.
Before I evict my tenants, if I have to, I will be looking in detail at the specifics of whatever the EPC system in force at the time is and whatever the specifics of the exemption system are. But if ultimately I have to evict my tenants because of badly thought out policy that doesn’t make me “unethical”; that’s just bad governance and the ambition of politicians like Ed Miliband cruising along on a crusade of net-zero lies.
If any tenant could rent any property….EPC band D, E or F; if the EPC system was meaningful; and if the higher EPC band properties were genuinely cheaper to run/more sustainable; if the tenants who could afford to pay for the higher EPC properties understood the EPC system and were prepared to pay the extra rent then the higher EPC band properties would naturally rent out for more rent.
The market would then sort the problem out because we would have a meritocracy.
Unfortunately, what we have had so far is years of unpleasant government control-freakery from the conservatives, labour and above all, the SNP. It’s just bad governance.
So the EPC system just changed: Does anybody who knows more about it than me know whether it’s better than it was before? Where are the good bits, if there are any?
Member Since May 2024 - Comments: 204
6:35 PM, 18th June 2025, About 10 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 17/06/2025 – 13:01
Beaver, There’s no way on this earth that I’m letting Serco get their hands on any of my houses.
The government are trying to force me to sell or force me to let to Serco to help them resolve their asylum problem.
They don’t have a hope in hell of me helping them, I’d rather sell up and pay capital gains tax before they get their dirty hands on any of my houses.
They have created the housing shortage, let them deal with it and keep paying to put asylum seekers in hotels and putting people in tents.