Why EPC costs and not the Renters’ Rights Bill could collapse the private rented sector

The private rented sector (PRS) is teetering on the edge of a cliff, and the government seems determined to give it a final shove.

Though everyone is distracted by the Renters’ Rights Bill, with its headline-grabbing ban on Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, one tenant activist group highlights the real danger to the sector – the proposed Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regulations, which could force landlords to fork out up to £15,000 per property.

In some areas that’s more than the landlord will make in profit over a few years but that hasn’t stopped Acorn, the tenants’ ‘union’, from demanding no cap on costs.

No cap? Literally, everyone thinks we are sleeping on a bed of £20 notes because we have so much money. They are effectively saying that landlords should bankrupt themselves to save a tenant £240 a year.

So, forgive me if I think the EPC scenario will deliver a fatal blow to the PRS because most landlords can’t afford those upgrades.

We also can’t afford to put a tenant up in a posh hotel while the work is carried out – work that will get dearer because we don’t have the manpower or materials currently to do it.

Many of us will also have issues with carrying out the work – how do leasehold flat owners get permission, for example? How does a landlord add wall insulation to a Victorian terrace?

EPC cap is too high

The proposed £15,000 cost cap per property might sound generous to policymakers in Whitehall, but for the average landlord, it’s a financial death sentence.

Many smaller landlords with one or two properties, often mortgaged, and razor-thin margins will be expected to absorb these costs. That’s not just unrealistic – it’s delusional.

Acorn says the £15,000 cap is too lenient and that landlords shouldn’t be allowed exemptions if costs exceed this amount.

Instead, they propose a two-year rent freeze after renovations, or even longer if landlords access grants.

It’s one thing to push for higher EPC standards but ignoring the financial realities landlords face is a shocking disconnect with reality.

We are not tycoons; we are ordinary people who invested in property for a modest return, not to be vilified as money-grabbing villains.

The Renters’ Rights Bill only piles on the pressure. By scrapping Section 21 evictions, landlords will need to navigate the courts to remove problem tenants, a process that’s slow, costly and uncertain.

Landlords are not the enemy

Combined with the EPC mandates, these renting reforms create a double blow: landlords face higher costs and less control over their properties, all the while tenant groups and MPs paint us as the enemy.

The narrative peddled by groups like Acorn and echoed in the media is that landlords are inherently exploitative, sitting on piles of cash while tenants suffer.

The consequences of this approach are already visible. The Telegraph reported a record number of empty homes in London as landlords sell up or stop renting, spooked by the Renters’ Rights Bill and looming costs.

Once the legal landscape becomes clear, who can blame a landlord for cashing in and investing in something that would give them a similar return without the grief and hassle?

If landlords exit en masse, the PRS will shrink, leaving tenants competing for fewer properties and driving rents even higher.

Acorn may cheer the regulations now, but who will they blame when the rental market collapses?

The Government’s policymaking feels like it’s crafted in a vacuum, divorced from the realities of the PRS.

We can’t afford EPC demand

The idea that landlords can simply absorb the costs or potentially pass on a small rent rise ignores the market’s limits – rents are already at record highs, and tenants are struggling.

It’s time for MPs, Peers and tenant groups to drop the caricature of the evil landlord.

The Government must rethink its approach: offer meaningful grants, not token ones, to cover EPC upgrades; streamline court processes for evictions; and engage with landlords as partners, not adversaries.

Or implement a helpful and supportive tax regime.

Once the real impact of the Renters’ Rights Bill lands and Labour sees what it has done, will they join their two brain cells up and conclude that the EPC requirements will devastate the sector and drop them?

Without urgent action, the PRS faces collapse, and the fallout will hit everyone – landlords, tenants and communities alike.

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader

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