The respected engineering institution the Building Research Establishment says the government must row back from its recent U-turn on rental property eco-measures.
Last month Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped plans aimed at forcing landlords to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties.
Although it had not officially become law, for years landlords have feared proposals to compel them to upgrade their rental properties to achieve an EPC rating of C or above by 2028, and in some cases earlier.
But now Gillian Charlesworth, chief executive of the Building Research Establishment, has slammed Sunak’s U-turn, which was recently reiterated in a letter to the Select Committee on Housing.
Charlesworth says: “The Government’s response to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee’s report on reform of the private rented sector recognises both the universal right to decent housing and the vital role local authorities play in determining standards and tackling issues with rogue landlords.
“With reports that the Government is rowing back on commitments which would require landlords to make energy efficiency improvements, the reality is that more homes will remain in EPC band F or G with local authorities unable to make improvements that would better the conditions for those living in privately-rented, poor quality homes.
“As shown by BRE’s latest research, the private rented sector is comprised of 619,000 homes in England which have a Category 1 hazard – a hazard which poses a serious and immediate risk to a person’s health and safety.
“If the Government is serious about making overdue improvements to this tenure, then it cannot afford to water down energy efficiency improvements which would provide tangible health and economic benefits for both private renters and wider society.”
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A hazard to common sense
Total and utter scaremongering twaddle
It's been illegal to rent out F and G rated properties for the last 3 years unless they are exempt from EPC requirements. Listed buildings, leasehold where it's impossible for an individual leaseholder to insulate an individual flat, properties where upgrades would cost more than a certain amount, etc.
Many of the exempt properties are very conveniently located so occupiers pay next to nothing for transport and can therefore afford to pay a bit more for heating.
Studies have shown the assumed energy usage figures used on EPCs are wildly inflated especially on the lower rated properties.
Tenants should be free to make their own choices. No one forces a tenant to sign up for a specific property or stay indefinitely in one that doesn't suit them.
Don't you love a supposed expert that doesn't even know an "F" or below isn't legal for letting except when a special reviewed exemption applies? And even then good luck getting a Mortgage. Please go back to knitting fog or whatever it is you do and let the people that do know what they are doing get on with it.
I don't suppose Ben from the NRLA will do much to point out her absolute twaddle either.
That's one side to the argument. Now let's ask the same top experts how they will ensure no drop in rental supply due to unaffordability, no mass evictions before the deadline and enough labour to get the work done. "Aaaaaaaah, I seeeeee". Exactly. Think again.
A universal right to a decent home, very good Its not my duty to provide you with one, go get your own you have that right if you are worth your salt.
Ah yes the vital role of local Authorities determining Standards and tackling issues, they are robbing the Private Sector blind with any amount of Regulation & licensing, spurious unjustifiable Fine and Penalties, how can £30k Penalty be justified, reasonable or punishment to fit the offence and were not all those Civil matters before they attacked us and Criminalising us so they that call that helping PRS.
I am sure She is right there are more than 619k Category 1 hazard in properties namely the Tenants.
Expert he says 🤔👌🏻 Then I must be an Astronaut 🚀🎉😂. If they bring the Big C back with Labour, my eviction plans are back on in full.
Wholly than thow - attitude. I wonder if she’s doing her bit. Has she - Got a heat pump or air source one- solar panels- photo voltage tubes??
Typical jobsworth, spouting off and about something she clearly hasn’t done her homework on as per comments above. Should she and others like her get their way, let’s see how they go about resolving the increase in the current rented housing crisis that will most definitely be a bye product of this…. They wouldn’t have a clue would they , although no doubt that would be the Landlords fault too!
The real reasons behind all this Removing S.21 is for Council not to have to house people after being evicted from a Private Property. I never understood why the Council’s should have be lumbered with this burden. Before they moved into the Private Property that they were evicted from they didn’t have that right, so the requirement was Rent a Private Property get evicted to be virtually guaranteed Council Housing. How many hundreds of thousands got Housed this way, often Application initiated by Tenants themselves if landlords didn’t play ball he’d soon have arrears.
Of Course the other real reason is our Business is being hi-Jacked by Corporations and Institutions even I see John Lewis is back on track again.
I have a suggestion make Private landlords exempt from Section 24 and impose it on Corporate Letting’s seen as we pay double their tax rate.
We have 5 topics to comment on each day. Why aren’t Landlordtoday covering Corporate Letting’s and Institutional take over of PRS.
maybe they should turn their attention to new builds and ensure that no house or flat is built without solar panels or photovoltaic cells and include batteries! That's a simple fix!
Another one joking the landlord bashing brigade from a position of great ignorance. If she cares so much, why does she not campaign for the same standards for owner occupiers?
Does Gillian Charlesworth have enough money to buy a large proportion of the 4.6 million PRS households and spend £20k to £30k upgrading them all? No. Can't put her money where her mouth is. But can sit in some cushty establishment like the BRE churning out research and reports.....
My research is will I upgrade a 1910 3 bed semi from an E to a C for more rent or more value? No. Will the tenants thank me? No. So No. No. No.
If they bring back EPC ratings then I think they need to review the requirements - they either change the rankings or probably more easily allow older houses - sold brick houses such as Victorian terraces to have a D reading. The cost to get a victorian terrace upto a C is excessive and unlikely to be recouped by any tenant and in some cases has a detrimental affect on the quality of the housing itself.
As a student landlord whilst i spend sometimes £16K to update a house with internal wall insultation (most of one years rent) the students have an all inclusive energy package and leave lights on, heating upto the max with windows open etc. More could be done for energy efficiency by banning all inclusive bills than reinvoking EPC certification
Get a better heating programmer if you're having problems with all inclusive. I use one that the tenants can boost for an hour any time they need to and that I can set the daily program from my phone. I can see exactly how long the boiler runs for and exactly what the temperature is in the house. Last night a tenant messaged to say his radiator wasn't working. I could immediately see the boiler had only run for a few minutes yesterday, the house was at 20.5 degrees, I sent him a screenshot of the heating graph and asked if the group needed the daily program fine tuned now they know their timetable. He hasn't got back to me.
Top expert? LOL
Do they still make tops? I had one as a child but haven’t seen one for years.
99 out of 99 prospective tenants wouldn't know an EPC if you held it in front of them, much less care.
I assume the BRE are the ones who advise owners of Victorian terraces to always use expensive lime plaster so they can "breathe", so I am still waiting for them to come up with a solution for my EPC D terraces that does not involve external cladding that causes damp, looks awful and degrades the character of the street, or internal cladding that causes damp and reduces the sizes of the rooms.
Honestly where do they find these useless Charlesworthless type of people what a brilliant idea during a housing shortage “let’s make a vast chunk of the housing stock unrentable”.
The institutions & political parties in this country are riddled with Marxist’s loons someone needs to get these people when their at university and send them of to the quiet room and tell them to have a good think, and that as noble as their eco- green policy dreams/thoughts are in practice if they try implementing them when their in the real grown ups world they will cause unintended carnage&chaos, such as in this women’s case homelessness and destitution.
If it really matters then make the rules consistent for all properties.
It's much easier to pick on landlords. Can you imagine the uproar from private owners.
I am not keen on all this Technology at all. As I said before a lead Tenant changed Room stat to a smart system connected to his phone and blew the PC board on the Boiler, cost me £200. Then he had moved out but insisted he was still living there and sub-let, when I could prove he wasn’t living there because of the fact he had a new car and it wasn’t there and had to admit. So I got my House back & minus £6’200. arrears still outstanding from a very low Rent. They didn’t clear or clean that’s what I have been doing for a week & a half (I wonder what he bought the Car with) now I’m stuck with a system I have no control over so cannot use.
I had to Change my Car because of ULEZ the same body as before eClass Est but keyless Technology and I curse it every day I can’t think of anything more inconvenient.
The thing about heating they don’t all want the same temperature especially if some work outside the’ll be switching it off.
They’re not experts. They only want this to happen because they have their nose in the trough and will make bank!
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