The new Labour government is planning a “fresh war on landlords”, according to press speculation.
Over the weekend, the Telegraph reported that ministers are considering stricter rules on evictions and regulation for “costly eco-refurbishment”.
According to the newspaper, the government is considering “French-style ‘hardship tests’ that would have to be carried out before landlords could evict tenants”. These, said the Telegraph, would effectively ban evictions in cases where renters were found to be worse off.
A similar measure has been introduced in France in an effort to reduce homelessness and the newspaper said that housing minister Matthew Pennycook “is understood to support the idea”.
Another aspect of the so-called “war on landlords” is a plan by the government to bring back energy efficiency requirements, the Telegraph said. This would involve requirements to make green upgrades to homes with “potentially uncapped costs”.
The speculation comes following the announcement of a new Renters’ Rights Bill in the King’s Speech last month.
The previous government’s energy efficiency requirements were scrapped by former prime minister Rishi Sunak. Ed Miliband, the new government’s energy security and net zero secretary, has indicated plans to introduce a requirement for EPC C certificates for landlords by 2030.
The Telegraph spoke to Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East, about the plans. He said: “Large numbers of rental properties are just physically incapable of being upgraded to that, so what do you do? Do you say well, ‘Okay, that can’t be rented out any more’?
“What that does is potentially reduce substantially the number of properties available.”
On the speculation surrounding hardship tests, he said: “Governments of all persuasions have relied on the private rented sector to supply what the social rented sector should supply.
“So we’re going to get more restrictions on the private rented sector again which is going to be unfair on the private sector landlords who are providing a service.”
A government spokesperson was also quoted in the Telegraph, saying: “The private rented sector is in desperate need of reform, and our Renters’ Rights Bill will make renting fairer for all.
“The energy shocks of recent years have also shown the urgent need to upgrade British homes so we can secure our energy independence and reduce fuel poverty.
“Responsible landlords who provide quality homes to their tenants have nothing to fear from the sensible overhaul of private rented sector regulation we intend to implement.”
I’m certain the big stick appears to be Labour’s tool of choice, I feel sorry for the tenant’s who ultimately are going to be camping outside while the Landlord’s sell up as they can’t get the required C status though lack of funds/workers. Meanwhile they are also going to build 1.5 million “homes” with a dwindling aging construction industry workforce.
Who’s going to buy these these hutches that won’t be able to sell in a market that’s collapsed.
Politicians seem to live on a different planet and sadly the rioting may only be the start.
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what kind of property cannot be upgraded to C? I have never seen one apart from old listed buildings – surely these can be an exception.
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I have several on my books. They aren’t listed, but they are in conservation areas and the costs to do all but the simplest tasks are prohibitive, and hugely disruptive. We have several where we want to have solar panels, but the conservation officer has said that we can only have them at the back, where there is not much direct sun due to the way the house faces… So the nice new HHR electric heaters we are having fitted are going to have to be powered by the grid instead.
And in the case of old farmhouses, you could be talking tens of thousands of pounds, which the Landlords simply don’t have…
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Much of the UK’s stock of private rented property is ageing but completely acceptable to tenants. Much is also complicated by the constraints of Conservation areas, which doesn’t just include listed buildings and wonderful period townhouses. Perhaps you can explain, definitively, what needs to be done with certainty to ensure an EPC C rating in, say, a 100 years old house in a Conservation area. Also, what happens to the tenants while all this is going on?
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You are right in as much Its not that the can’t, as others have said its the cost of doing it. A few years ago we explored using air source heat pumps to heat a large old stone house built in 1792. It had no central heating when we bought it, only open fires downstairs for heating . Eventually the company we chose came back saying after surveying the property, for the first time ever, having completed the survey, that in their opinion it was impossible/uneconomical to do so .
Firstly the house was not remotely airtight, two large inglenook fireplaces didn’t help. It would have needed two air source heat pumps fitting , it also needed underfloor heating downstairs which meant digging down, destroying the original floors, and underpinning the property because the foundations were pretty much none existent and they were worried the digging down would destroy the property’s stability. And upstairs, the rooms are all in the eves. and already suffer from lack of usable wall space but they would have needed extra large radiators fixing to the walls to heat the space where previously there were none fitted and the heating was provided by portable heaters making the usability of the rooms even worse than fitting traditional radiators would have done . It also needed some insulation fitting to a single brick Victorian extension ( – either external – or internal which would reduce the room sizes again ) and ideally to help meet the spec it needed newer double glazed windows and if possible solar panels ( but its in a conservation area so the council said no ) . The cost of all this was well in excess of £ 60K. So yes I could have done it, but it made absolutely no economic sense whatsoever, so I didn’t. ( we retro fitted central heating, powered off an oil boiler for around £10 K ) .
And I suspect for a lot of houses that are pre 1920 never mind about older than that, the situation will be the same. People buy the old world charm of an old stone cottage with inglenooks and wooden/flagstone floors, much of which would have been destroyed. They know it wont be up to modern standards of home insulation ( thou stone walls 3 ft thick are pretty good insulation if you ask me ) IF they force this on us, I will be forced to sell up and I will not be alone. This once size fits all approach is unworkable. And that’s before you get me started on EPC rating critera that fail to
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We own 5 flats which were converted from offices 15 years ago. We had to sound proof and fire proof. With the introduction of EPC’s for rental properties we then had to insulate internally and change to electric storage heaters. After doing everything possible we only gained an EPC of E. We also have many old Cornish cottages and fishermen’s cottages that will be impossible to reach a C. Bearing in mind the housing crisis is only for rental properties, we have no shortage of homes to buy, it makes no sense to evict tenants who have lived in their much loved homes for decades. Many pay only minimum rent and could never afford another rental and certainly will struggle to find one here in Cornwall or anywhere else.
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Its more a war on tenants
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juliusg,
You are right that, all but a few properties, can be upgraded to a C rating, but the issue is – at what cost, and who is ultimately going to pay for that improvement?
In the vast, vast majority of sustainable business models, costs are ultimately passed on to the customer.
Will tenants be willing to pay enough more rent because the property is rated C rather than D or E to justify the investment by a landlord to comply? (after all, it is the tenants who are benefitting from lower energy costs)
If the property is in Surrey with a monthly rent of £ 4,000 pcm, it is a different proposition to the property being in, say, Sunderland, where the rent may be £ 4 – 500 pcm.
If a landlord has to invest perhaps £ 20,000 to upgrade the boiler and /or central heating and /or insulation and/or windows, etc, etc. then how long a period should they be expected to repay that investment?
Even on 10 years (and assuming interest free, but why should it be?), it equates to over £ 165 each and every month.
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I’m sorry, but you are wrong to say ‘all but a few properties can be upgraded to a C rating’. That’s like government ministers saying the vast majority of properties can be fitted with home EV chargers, with the expectation that we will accept their claims unchallenged.
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