Shropshire Farming Talk: Future energy efficiency requirements to ease for residential landlords
The Government has announced that plans to increase the required EPC ratings for let residential properties will be scrapped and the plan to ban gas boilers will be delayed.
The original plans meant that landlords would have to ensure that their residential properties would have an EPC rating of C or above by 2025 for new tenancies and for all tenancies by 2028.
Under revised plans, the Government will scrap policies to force landlords to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties, but instead continue to encourage households to do so where they can.
Whilst this may be positive news for some landlords who would have had expensive upgrades, there is of course a risk that the next general election could bring a change of government and with it a change in policy.
With regards to gas boilers, the ban on new fossil fuel boilers for certain households will be delayed while cash grants for boiler upgrade schemes will increase by 50 per cent to £7,500 for those who want to transition now.
The Government has also set an exemption to the phase out of fossil fuel boilers, including gas, in 2035, so that households who will most struggle to make the switch to heat pumps or other low-carbon alternatives won’t have to do so.
This is expected to cover about a fifth of homes, including off-gas-grid homes – those that will need expensive retrofitting or a very large electricity connection.
The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “This country is proud to be a world leader in reaching Net Zero by 2050. But we simply won’t achieve it unless we change. We’ll now have a more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach that eases the burdens on families.
WAll while doubling down on the new green industries of the future. In a democracy, that’s the only realistic path to Net Zero. We are going to change the way our politics works. We are going to make different decisions. We will not take the easy way out.
"There will be resistance – and we will meet it. Because I am determined to change our country and build a better future for our children. Nothing less is acceptable.”
At Berrys, we keep up to date with legislative changes and consider how they will affect our clients.
Anna Roche, Berrys
