What’s the true cost for landlords to get properties to EPC C by 2030?

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 07/04/2026 – 11:44
Beaver, £4600 was cost of installation including inverter and scaffolding. 450w panels. SEG Export is going to Tenant and being passed on.

Reply to the comment left by Pete England – PaTMa Property Management at 08/04/2026 – 09:27
I see, thank you. So the SEG payment is being paid to the tenant and that payment is then being passed on by the tenant to you as the landlord?

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 08/04/2026 – 11:06
Yes. I created a separate agreement document.

I see, thanks for clarifying, that’s interesting. So how many KWH do they generate in total per annum and what % of that gets sent back to the grid, rather than being used by the tenant?

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 08/04/2026 – 14:40
Hopefully my roof, will generate about 3600kwh a year and I’m guessing 90% will go back to grid. I don’t have a battery.

Reply to the comment left by Pete England – PaTMa Property Management at 08/04/2026 – 16:09
That’s interesting, thanks for sharing: I would estimate the typical electricity consumption of a 3 bed semi to be about 3000 kwh per annum, especially if the tenant knows the energy is free. So I’d guess that about 1/6 or less of generation would go back to grid, unless the tenant is still connected to the gas network.

Reply to the comment left by Peter Rowley at 04/04/2026 – 18:48
I was prompted to have a few further thoughts on this as a consequence of an email I just received offering me some gilts to invest in. This is because the article at the top of this thread is about the true cost of getting properties to EPC Band C by 2030, four years hence. And the point to understand is that the REAL cost of getting a property to EPC Band C is the after-tax cost, and any benefit is the after-tax benefit, allowing for investment costs and the opportunity cost of that investment.

Another consideration is that a number of commentators have made the point that it is absolutely impossible for the government to reach its target of building 1.5 million new homes, including this one:

https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/planning/absolutely-no-way-governments-1-5m-homes-pledge-can-be-met

On past experience the government won’t be able to stop people renting band D homes in 2030 because they just won’t have enough homes. Furthermore, considering the experience of these proposals in the past, any expenditure that you make before you have to make it will not necessarily count towards any investment ‘cap’ that you might have to meet in order to move your property up a band, by the time they’ve moved the goal posts again (because they have to), or make any difference to the EPC rating.

If you already hold your property portfolio in a limited company and therefore aren’t currently being penalised by the tax system it makes sense to invest in your property to improve the EPC rating IF you can move the rating easily, and IF you can charge more rent for a band C, B or A property. But if you are one of the majority, small landlords with 1.2 properties outside a limited company you have to question this as you are penalised by HMRC for raising capital.

So here are a few thoughts. As a non-incorporated small portfolio landlord you might be considering investing £4.5K in solar panels to squeak your property over the line from band D to band C (this is probably Capex if you aren’t replacing the gas boiler), or maybe investing £10-£30K to fully embrace renewables such as heat pumps and cover all the on-costs including making good. (probably also Capex). If instead you DO NOTHING (other than what you must, i.e. annual gas boiler check, EICR etc) but invest your £4.5K-£30K in either a stocks and shares ISA, possibly in passive funds, or maybe invest in gilts outside an ISA (gilts are free of CGT), then you could sit on your money and let it grow tax-free until the time when the government confirms that you can no longer rent your band D property out. At this point you can get rid of the tenant to put family members in, sell the property, or develop the property. If you haven’t increased the value of the property by upgrading the EPC and need to get it into a limited company then the lower EPC rating should help you get a lower valuation to reduce your CGT bill and you can lend the money from your ISA to your company to upgrade it, if you wish to. Or you can just sell to an owner occupier and just keep your tax-free ISA or gilt money.

As a small portfolio landlord holding property outside a limited company structure, tell my why I’m wrong?

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 09/04/2026 – 14:51
Or if nobody wants to tell me why I’m wrong. If I’m a small portfolio landlord and my tenant wants me to invest in £4.5K worth of solar panels, allowing for the cost of extra capital, annual service costs, cleaning costs, professional maintenance, depreciation (including both the panels themselves and the inverter), plus the extra tax bill on the capital because I can’t offset my finance costs against rents, how much do I have to put the monthly rent up to cover the costs including both the capital and the extra tax at 40% that HMRC levies on me as a non-incorporated landlord?

Would it be say £200-300 per month?

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 09/04/2026 – 14:51
There are probably many financial instruments you could use to offset the costs to a future date. I understand the trajectory of thought. But, here’s the thing : if you leave things to the last minute , you may find it difficult getting tradesmen to do the work. You know what it’s like at the best of times. Wouldn’t that leave you non- compliant and unable to rent out ? Remember: Archimedes warned against doing his calculations on shifting sand !

Reply to the comment left by Steve Williams at 09/04/2026 – 16:20
I understand that a typical residential solar panel installation takes 1–3 days on-site, but the full process from initial enquiry to commissioning usually spans 4–12 weeks.