Welsh government says landlords need crucial financial help

Welsh government says landlords need crucial financial help

0:05 AM, 28th April 2023, About A year ago 2

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The Welsh government has acknowledged that landlords will need financial help to improve their rental homes to meet energy efficiency targets.

The announcement comes after all 29 recommendations of the Senedd’s Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee’s report on the decarbonisation of the private rented sector, either in full or in principle.

Among the issues that were accepted is a call by the committee for the government to provide more detail about how regulatory standards will be used to implement retrofit activity across the private rented sector in Wales.

Many landlords will be forced to take drastic action

The Welsh government responded by saying that it concedes that Wales’ ageing private rented housing stock means that many landlords will be forced to take drastic action to meet energy efficiency targets.

And that potential outlay means many landlords may choose to sell up – or commission cheaper retrofits which may not be as effective over the long term.

Some landlords may also pass the costs of work on to tenants.

‘Landlords in Wales are faced with substantial challenges’

The chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), Ben Beadle, said: “We welcome the Welsh government’s response. To say that landlords in Wales are faced with substantial challenges at the moment would be an understatement, so it is pleasing to see that the government understands our predicament when it comes to retrofitting rental properties.

“This follows extensive campaigning from the NRLA on the issue.”

Retrofitting a rental property could be prohibitive for landlords

Mr Beadle highlights that the cost of retrofitting a rental property could be prohibitive for landlords – not helped by the lack of any financial support for such work.

He added: “Although we broadly concur with the Welsh government’s statement, much more work is needed to offer financial assistance to landlords looking to increase the energy efficiency of their properties.”

Part of the government’s response was an acknowledgement that the introduction of revised Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) by the UK Government will probably need some form of financial assistance for Welsh landlords.

Specifically, they say that ‘if the UK Government introduces a requirement to meet EPC C and does not provide financial support, there could be a need to look at funding grants and/or loans to support improvements’.

For more information about the Welsh government’s response to the Committee’s decarbonisation report can be found on the Senedd website.


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Comments

northern landlord

13:54 PM, 28th April 2023, About A year ago

So the Welsh government realises that landlords need crucial financial help to improve their rental homes to meet energy efficiency targets. Same thing applies in England but it doesn’t appear to have dawned on Westminster yet. You can bet your life that to qualify for any help under any Government scheme you will have to jump through hoops and it will have all sorts of strings attached you will probably have to pay up front and reclaim, use only approved contractors, get multiple quotes, application forms as long as your arm etc. etc. and still be left out of pocket. A process that will make you lose the will to live where selling up will be the easy way out. As a previous commentator said on these pages a couple of months ago ” unless I get an automatic payment of £10k into my account with very little fuss or paperwork, (it) won't stop me from exiting”.
As the landlord is not going to benefit from an improved EPC here’s an idea, why not let the tenants apply to reduce their own energy bills by a minimal amount and keep their rent down while giving them the same rights to not bother with it as owner occupiers have? I wonder how many takers there would be for such a scheme? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Mr.A

15:28 PM, 28th April 2023, About A year ago

And then we have the Scottish Nationalist with the greens trying to destroy the PRS in Scotland with their eviction freeze and rent increase ban ....
HOW WOULD THESE CLOWNS RUN A COUNTRY.

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