Furthermore, energy efficiency is increasingly becoming a necessity both due to the cost of living and the climate emergency. We know from our own research that it’s something our clients take very seriously, whether they’re buying, selling, letting, or renting. According to our recent survey, almost three quarters (70%) of respondents nationwide would like their property to be more eco-friendly.More than half (56%) said that they would specifically seek out a property with these qualities, while two-thirds (66%) revealed they would choose a property with eco-friendly features to buy or rent, over one without.
Although landlords may welcome the opportunity not to spend on substantial work while mortgage rates remain high, in many cases it will be prudent to take the long view: any work carried out now will help with future regulations, as well as reducing your carbon footprint, and providing a more energy efficient home which could attract a higher rent.
Green Building Renewables, concerned that fewer than half (43%) of landlords were prepared for the proposed introduction of MEES carried out some research which indicated the changes being considered by landlords. In order of preference, these included new boilers (37%), insulation (36%), solar panels (29%), LED lighting (29%), and heat pumps (23%).
The Energy Saving Trust provides some very useful information on the various means of achieving energy efficiency, with information bespoke to the size of a property.It advises, in relation to a range of potential improvements,what a typical installation would cost, how much can be saved annually in energy bills and how many kilograms of CO2 emissions can be saved, based on a detached house, semi detached house, mid-terrace house, detached bungalow ormid-floor flat. The number of options available, along with the knowledge that accompanies it, is constantly growing – did you know, for example that there are at least eight types of heat pumps available for use in houses - air source, air-to-air, cascaded, exhaust air, ground source, hybrid, solar assisted, water source?
The relative benefits of the range of options available (which include cavity wall insulation, double glazed windows or energy efficient doors, draught-proofing gaps and cracks, energy efficient boiler, LED light bulbs, loft insulation, smart meters, solar panels, solid wall insulation) depend on technical specifications such as wall types and planning restrictions (such as the building being in conservation area, or the property being listed), your reasons for making the change, your budget and whether you intend to carry out the work yourself or use a professional.
As the National Residential Landlords Association has said after Sunak’s U-turn, with energy use in residential properties accounting for around a fifth of UK carbon emissions, the private rented sector has an important role to play in reaching Net Zero.
And making the changes can be financially prudent:Legal & General research shows that 13% of renters are willing to pay a premium for a low carbon property - allowing landlords to recoup the costs. With tenants’ bills reduced by £276 a year on average landlords can recoup the initial outlay and derive longer term benefits from their investment.
There is evidence, too, that investing in energy efficiency is a wise investment. According to the Buy Association over half of portfolio landlords use EPC ratings as an investment tool, buying properties rated D or lower, and using the EPC structure to determine the necessary renovations to generate a higher resale or rental price. The figure is higher among those with the most properties, decreasing in line with the number of properties owned. It is substantiated by research from Hamptons in 2022 which revealed that property investment trends are leaning towards more energy-efficient buildings, with 50% of investors buying properties rated A-C, up from 39% in 2021 and 33% in 2020.
Similarly, green mortgages can be an astute financial investment due to the preferential rates that they offer.
Whether you wish to put additional investment into your portfolio, gain a higher monthly income, help your tenants or the increasingly necessary and widely acknowledged aspiration to meet net zero, increasing the energy efficiency of a property is undoubtedly of value.
* Kim Lidbury is Group Director (Property Management) at Leaders Romans Group *
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Oh they'll love that another responsibility they can flout.. Who'd be an English tenant.
SBR,
you should marry Gibbo, then you could bore each other to death with your rants.
I thank God that you will never be a tenant of mine.
Who’d be the landlord of an English tenant. I do my best to find east Europeans😁
Me too Peter my worst tenants have always been British females, east Europeans no problems
Peter/Andrew
Be careful, you will have SBR accusing you of racism.
My tenants, over the last couple of years, have mainly been English with a couple of non-Brits, ALL have been excellent tenants, with the exception of one female Brit. Even then, all deposit issues were settled without fuss.
A L facts are facts, I can only tell it as it is
Same here, Andrew. We have had different experiences and, I suspect, are in different parts of the country. 😃
To be fair A L, I’m sure there are good English tenants and for that matter, bad overseas ones. It just hasn’t been my experience to date.
Help Tenants? We supply and maintain & insure housing at great cost & risk... so what next? Pay for their holidays? Get them some shopping? Provide a line of credit? Clear their debts?
Who'd be a bl**dy landlord these days?
Am I the only one thinking the whole BTL industry is going down the tubes, it's a bit late to be worrying about energy efficiency!!
I agree. Many landlords are weighing up whether they can continue now. In the past, the majority of landlords did not let if tenants would gain security of tenure. They sold up if they could or they passed the property on to their children.
There were some who continued but they let to companies etc. There were a variety of viable options in the past. However, now it is very rare to find a company who pays the rent for their employees. Landlords also sometimes let to local authorities for a fixed term, but it is becoming more questionable as to whether the landlord will get the property back at the end of that fixed term. Universities would, in the past, offer head leases, but now they don't do that either.
No, you are not alone.
Spot on. Too late to worry about net zero stuff.
LRG again spending their CLIENTS' money. Who would have them as an agent?
I'm quite keen on energy efficiency and can bore for England on solar panels, time of use tariffs, smart heating controls, etc.
Ultimately the biggest factors in energy efficiency are orientation of the house and the occupiers behaviour.
Someone who switches their heating on for a few minutes now and then is going to be cold and have high bills. Someone who treats their house as a giant heat store and has the heating set within a range of say 19 degrees to 21 degrees is going to be comfortable and may use less energy. A well ventilated house will be dryer and cheaper to heat than one with moist air (from cooking, bathing and breathing) trapped.
The EPC rating has very little impact on the heating bills. My 6 person HMO with EPC E uses less gas (heating and hot water) than some of my 4 and 5 person EPC C student houses. This is especially bizarre as it is occupied 52 weeks a year.
My EPC A house with just 2 of us living in it uses more gas than an older house with EPC C and 3 tenants. Their's is North-South, ours is East-West.
Energy production has moved on a lot since EPCs were invented. Whatever measure the government opts for needs to encompass the fact renewables are an ever increasing part of our energy provision.
Apart from all that we should and can be doing, what’s needed is Representation in Campaigning and also definitely Legal Representation. We are being picked on and picked off one at a time we are powerless.
Surely it must be the easiest thing to do it’s just a matter of setting it up. I mean go Fund me /us, 2.6m landlords @ £20. each or any other voluntary amount on top there’s £5’000’000. Instantly
its button on the scale of things Charity Status of Course. I believe every landlord would contribute simply have a Register if there are a few who never put their hand in the pocket that’s fine they don’t get help.
Count me in on that one Michael
Okay Michael, set it up and count me in.
Me too
How about a whole PRS Representation? Listening to both the Landlords and Tenants. As both need each other. It could approach the government with the aim to increase the PRS as a whole. Perhaps include some form of dispute resolution process to avoid the court process altogether. Working to improve the PRS system for the benefit of both Landlords and Tenants. If there is representation for the PRS as one group it should reduce the war between the Landlords and tenants.
Good idea, John, but I suspect Polly Bleat, Generation Rant etc would complain that it excluded social housing tenants, missing the whole point of course.😉
Unfortunately I don’t have the necessary Office skills otherwise I would love to.
However I am sure there are some on here very capable of setting this up, namely Jo & Ellie if I dare take the liberty to suggest such a thing, there you go a ready made dream team experienced landlords and Directors in their own right.
Thank you Michael.
Of course, you would be a perfect leader because you not only let and manage houses, but you have built them and you put to rest the idea that landlords' income is unearned. Also you bring out the main points all the time, and I think that you speak for the majority of us. You believe landlords should retain Section 21, you believe that licensing should end, you believe in a fairer and lower taxation system for landlords etc., you believe that taxation should not be digital because of the age demographic of landlords meaning that many did not grow up with computers and, in any event, no landlord wants to have to submit accounts four times a year
I think anyone who seeks to represent landlords needs to make clear where they stand on every issue which concerns landlords including EPC and capital gains tax. Will they truly represent the majority? Will they only seek to represent their own interests?
The problem that we have with the NRLA is that they have been putting forward views which many of us consider do not represent how the majority of landlords feel and therefore will lead to such a large number selling up. They didn't even support the possibility of fixed term tenancies being included in the previous rental reform bill either. It was left to Conservative MPs to put forward that amendment and then it was too late in the process to be accepted. Now Labour will go even further in giving tenants security of tenure. Would a Labour government listen to reason now?
Personal reasons make it difficult for me to form a new landlord organisation at the moment - and is it too late in the day for it to have any clout?
That's quite an amusing idea. Can you imagine a meeting with me and Ellie?
I freely admit to being gobby, strident, opinionated and firmly working class. I have a mental image of Ellie being somewhere closer to the other end of the spectrum. I may be wrong but I picture her as being very well spoken and genteel.
We are both very hands on as landlords but often have very different opinions on the most important topics.
Jo you and Ellie would work very well together, you would both bring something different to the table, that can be a big plus
That is very kind of you, Jo, to say that I come over as well spoken and genteel. I am very down to earth about everything.
I have never thought of you as you describe yourself. You come over as very well informed and articulate.
Well said Ellie, that just about covers all the facts, what’s wrong and what is happening to PRS, it’s too late in the day for me now with the best will in the World. The former Housing Secretary Mr Michael Gove will surely go down in history as the Conservative Member of Parliament who single handily brought down the Tory Government.
I understand as a junior minister he was involved in writing THE RENTERS REFORM BILL that was never required and later kept pushing it under PM Boris until getting sacked for being untrustworthy, they reinstated again under new premiership where he continued to damage PRS including pushing for removal of S21 that was put in the Manifesto by naive Mrs May.
John Prescott before them with the same ideas with the 2004 Act was going to do the same thing but got his answer didn’t get back in. So now Mr Grace in Favour you have your answer too bringing down your Government as I repeatedly said from the start Removing Section 21 had the ability of doing this.
NRLA seriously take note that you are damaging Membership by supporting all this anti-private landlords legislation.
I agree, Michael, that the abolition of Section 21 was a big cause of disunity in the Conservative Party and perhaps the reason that Rishi Sunak went for a July election - was he still at risk of a leadershp challenge? Certainly 52 Conservative MPs signed the amendment for fixed term tenancies - the number required for letters of no confidence to take effect.
And the Labour Party needs to take note that they are not helping tenants by creating a legal framework in which Landlords will not be prepared to operate.
I hope that they will take into account the age of landlords and not tie them in to being landlords after retirement age by punitive levels of capital gains tax.
The last thing I'm thinking about is C rating or any other rating. All I'm thinking about is selling up. Thank you. 👍
I agree with MF's idea of we, as landlords setting up our own legal representation. Nobody will do it. NRLA has their own selfish agenda, that does nto serve any of their members. NRLA will continue loosing it's members. Ben Beadle has no clue as to how to serve the members. He seems to have a knack of going against the wishes of the members.
First of all we need to know how many landlords will be interested and supporting the ongoing legal representation. There are some landlords who do not know anything about NRLA, Rental Reform bill and all the political upheaval against the landlords. There are landlords with 20 properties in the north of England and do not know what is happening and will carry on as if no changes are going to happen.
Are we talking about an alternative to NRLA, but totally representing the PRS interest to benefit both landlords and ultimately the tenants to make the rent more affordable on an ongoing basis. We need to have a representation and be ready to talk to media and the politicians to understand not to fight against us as they and us. The landlords are not the tenants', government's enemies. The governemnt needs to help the tenants by abolishing the licensing schemes, abolish the extra stamp duty to encourage more young people to enter the PRS. The taxation needs to eb in line with other businesses; that is providing relief for all the costs including the full tax on interest relief, so landlords can continue to have their normal jobs. There needs to be a tapered relief on capital gains for exit plans for the landlords and new landlords to enter
There are around 2.9 million landlords. The NRLA only has a membership of about 100000. There are other smaller landlords associations but it's pretty clear the vast majority of landlords don't see the point of belonging to any of them.
I personally get back far more than the NRLA annual membership fee in discounts on HMO licensing fees, deposit protection fees and B&Q. From a financial perspective membership is very worthwhile. From a representation point of view less so. It's a bit like when I pay my union subs to the CWU and they actively campaign to get rid of my job.
There needs to be a tapered relief on capital gains for exit plans for the landlords and new landlords to enter the PRS. There are people thinking this is for the benfit of the landlords only. It is not, as there will alway be people wanting homes and they need to have a secure home at reasonable rent. The persistent government intereference in licensing, rent controls and continuous increase in taxation does not help. I do not believe EPC measurements are correctly done or have any relevance to the size of the usage and the bills. The government needs to consult the landlord, so need proper landlord representation who actually can show the survey done within the PRS.
The PRS legal representation needs a mission statement, a strategy, a website, need a legal representation for consultation. They need to prove or educate the government what maintenance and administration of proeprties and tenants entail, so they can work with the landlords ratehr tahn aganst them.
I am stopping my NRLA membership this year. I have already given them notice, last year.
Educating the tenants to take their responsibilities and liabilities seriously. This is never going to work for all the tenants. There are some people who will wish to always defraud the landlords and not pay. Do the landlords need to home them? Maybe they need to stay home ot with relatives or government provide homes to them. Clearly we do need a database of tenants (data protection act can be crossed if all the evidence is provided). Rogue tenants need to be shown somewhere for everyone's benefit.
There will always be those that think they don't have to pay
The trouble with energy efficiency is that it is so hard to work out liability. Sone "experts" claim landlords of period houses with solid walls will need to spend £tens of thousands to insulate their houses and install heat pumps, batteries, solar panels to get to EPC grade C or A (pick a figure); others like The Guardian recently say only about £10,000 is needed and ASHPs work fine with a bit of loft insulation and draught-proofing. Others say your bills actually go up with heat pumps and your EPC gets worse because gas is much cheaper per kWh than electricity and the EPC measures heating costs, not carbon footprint - so a truly stupid measure of its supposed aims.
None of this makes a blind bit of difference to me, when interest rates are so high, I'm now running at a loss - anc get attacked for putting up my rents just to balance the books. Most tenants have *no idea* how much it costs to run a BTL or landlords' exposure to the risk of a non-paying tenant or costs increasing. The confected outrage of organisations like Shelter and Generation Rent when landlords increase rents, even when they *know* landlords costs have increased enormously, is utterly cynical and disgraceful. And do they ever do anything themselves to provide housing? No, nothing - they just expect to take, take, take.
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