New research published by Lloyds Banking Group during Energy Saving Week has revealed the lack of confidence and skills gaps landlords face when attempting to improve energy efficiency.
A survey of 2,000 people - including over 250 landlords - shows that a key barrier preventing homeowners from taking action is that they don’t believe they have the skills or knowledge to make energy efficiency improvements to their homes, despite half of people agreeing it is important homes are net zero ready by 2035.
When asked, only 30 per cent of owners were confident they knew what to do to make their home net zero ready by 2035, with over a quarter agreeing they wouldn’t be able to identify the improvements their home needed to be greener.
Only 33 per cent have taken action to improve their property’s energy efficiency in the last five years. Among people who have undertaken these improvements, nearly all (96 per cent) say they are pleased with the results. Over eight in 10 said they would recommend this type of work to a friend, family member or work colleague. And, almost two thirds say the running costs of their home are lower after making the changes.
However, when asked what support might have been useful before starting their retrofit journey, over a fifth said they’d have welcomed advice and support on how to go about the process.
Alongside greater support and guidance on energy efficiency measures, access to skills is also a key factor, with almost a quarter stating that they would expect direction towards skilled tradespeople to help them bring their property towards net zero.
Lloyds says that with a documented green-skills shortage across the UK, including a shortfall of 200,000 installation workers and 100,000 heat-pump installers, the lack of a well-trained labour force may soon have a detrimental impact on the journey to net-zero homes.
A bank spokesperson says: “The UK is home to some of the oldest housing stock the world. This means many of our homes are poorly insulated, and people are having to use huge amounts of energy to warm them – resulting in high energy bills and large carbon emissions.
“Improving the energy efficiency of our homes is a crucial step in individually and collectively reducing our energy consumption, but homeowners just don’t know where to begin and the lack of available skills to deliver the upgrades is an increasing concern.
“If UK homeowners are to get retro-fit in 2024, we must see more collective action from industry, government and financial institutions to support them in this vital transition. That’s why we launched our Making Homes Greener initiative, a journey that will see us trial new tools and collaborations, such as our work with Regeneration Brainery, to improve the energy efficiency of Britain’s homes.”
Want to comment on this story? Our focus is on providing a platform for you to share your insights and views and we welcome contributions.
If any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.
Please help us by reporting comments you consider to be unduly offensive so we can review and take action if necessary. Thank you.
.jpg)
.png)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
Hurray! We can comment on Lloyds Bank, but not some firm I’ve never heard of that she’s the obvious. So grateful, Kim Jon Norwood. 😡
Nonsense from Lloyds, I lack enough skill to know I am throwing money away if I improve mine as I am selling the lot 💵💵👍🏻👍🏻. Also the article about population increases has no comment section 🤷♂️ That too is nonsense, it say by 2045 our population could be “ some 60 million “ 😂😂 it was that 10 years ago 🤔.
It's not what to do that is the problem, it is the measure used! EPCs still not fit for purpose!
We have plenty of "skill" (thanks for the veiled insult), rather we lack the will, funds and above all confidence in the system: one where goal posts have legs.
The entire ‘net zero’ industry is a cauldron of contradiction and open self interest. Nothing the current industry propagates can be entirely trusted.
Just remind me again Lloyds about lack of skills when it was you and all your gang who almost wiped out the complete economy a few years ago. While we are talking about lack of skills may I put forward the political parties in Red and Blue.
It is not skills that landlords lack, as an entrepreneurial bunch I would say they have many diverse skills and qualities. However S24, S21 and Negative Press has restricted cashflow and forced many to retreat from the sector due to dwindling returns.
That is not a lack of skills but very smart maneuvering of their risk.
Landlords are very skilled at getting work done. It's when there is no clear solution and nobody to implement it that the problems start.
Unless they segregate the responses from the 250 landlords (roughly 12% of the sample) from the rest, how can they extrapolate that landlords lack knowledge when 30% of the sample were confident that they did have the knowledge. The landlords could, very easily, all have been in that 30%. Misuse of statistics, again.
Absolutely right Emily.
And the article's text was referring to homeowners, including shortened to owners. Only the intro referred to landlords, presumably so it could appear on Landlord Today and garner comments.
That is poor journalism / editing. Graham Norwood didn't specifically identify bits of the study that reported on landlord attitudes. Which presumably there might have been, having surveyed over 250 landlords as part of the study.
I don’t believe landlords lack any housing skills and know far more about housing than all those Regulators and Digital Academics put together, what do they know or what could they do with a house apart from nothing just iPhone Laptop button pressers that must be what they call skills they referred to.
Jeremy Hunt in the Express today the tax cutting Chancellor he believes it’s the best way to boost economic growth. Hello is this the same Chancellor that further lowered the threshold at which point we start paying 45%so that’s a big income tax increase square that one ?.
I have wasted my money on installation of solar panels to a company, that the mayor, Sadiq Khan's office recommended. The mayor's office have no clue if good solar panel companies and leaflets were available in library and distributed to homes to go for this company who will install solar panels and batteries. It took a long time for appointments, after paying a deposit. Once installed, the engineers not willing to explain anything. They said everything will be sent. They emailed an invoice to pay immediately so they can send paperwork. I paid but nothing received from them. Installation done by them in October 2022. A lot of chasers but they insist they emailed everything, to look in my spam folder. There was nothing and I asked for them forward the email to me these instructions and information documents for feed in tariff etc for me to pass it to the tenants. But nothing is received. It has been a total waste of time and money. Of course mayor's office do not take any responsibility. No one is an expert to install, though a lot of gas engineers and electricians have moved into solar panels business. My electricians that I used in Nottinghamshire have all moved into these lucrative work.
By the way the property that had solar panels installed was already 'C' rated EPC. So this article is incorrect when they say LL's are unaware of energy efficiency. After installation of solar panels, the rate normally goes to a notch better, like 'B' but the installation company Get Together did not provide a new EPC nor any documents. There is no expertise in any companies nor any knowledge or understanding in the government departments to hold any companies liable after they recommending such companies. Who should the LL's trust. This company also installed a battery in our own home. We already had solar panels successfully installed by another company, who were very helpful. All documents were provided. Took the trouble to explain everything. Phoned and emailed to ask 2 weeks later than 3 months later if everything was OK. Feed in tariff was established. Get together, who did the battery were again useless and no instruction how it would operate. We had to get another company to check it out at a charge. They could not help but recommended another company. After more than 2 years of installation of battery by Get Together, we managed to get it all working with explanation and another big cost to the 3rd company. But this later company knew what they were doing and able to communicate. The BTL property needs to be resolved somehow. But we understand going to the 3rd company directly would cost more than what we paid as they were travelling from Bournemouth to greater London, but going through this second company who checks what is needed and recommends someone to do the work is better. Right now I do not have any funds to spend further money on a proper work or all these explanations, so I cannot do so, as paying 3 times more on mortgage interest but not able to increase rent, as it has been rented to a charity, who rents to low waged tenants and also get funding from council and other benevolent people and companies. My decision to carry out installation was to help the charity and also because the house rear garden is south facing to get the most benefit. Another btl was west facing, so the company has stated it was not worth the cost. Anyway, I wished to do one property at a time. Though I do have another one south facing property, as well. It turns out that just to do one was sufficient to know that there are cowboys who can do install solar panels, take the monet and no information of it's working or feed in tariff etc.
As Trivia and others stated, the EPCs are not fit for purpose. I have same work carried out in 3 houses and same person did the EPC rating but put different rating for them, like C and D. He had assumed no loft insulation until I sent him invoice and pictures for insulation done at 400mm, which is higher than required. So I disagree with the implications that LL's do not have knowledge. I have more knowledge and experience in how it works. However, there are no standards on EPC rating and the government and so called installers do not have any clue either. The solar installers and a lot of gas engineers and electrician do not have any knowledge or understanding of it. First the government has to spend some money to educate the installers before funding £7,500 towards the installation. Need to have assurance from the government that once the work is done it needs to fully operate before the payment is made rather than pay first and then know how documents and operation.
I leave the loft hatch open with a ladder into it, the lady I use always goes up there and takes a look
As someone who has been in the energy business for a lifetime, its all a big con. There's no such thing as renewable energy, bernoullis theorem states that energy is neither destroyed nor absorbed merely transferred. That's the gist of it. Politicians are in a bubble and can only hear their own babble, often bought off by the renewable energy businesses, oh l mean lobbyists.
Lloyd's bank are a competitor, very much gamekeeper and poacher.
Please login to comment