The new laws and regulations for rented properties
With all the increasing regulation, compliance, and tax issues facing landlords throughout 2017, there is another piece of legislation that may have flown under landlords’ radar, and could deliver a nasty shock.
The 2015 Energy Efficiency Regulations, passed in March 2015, set out minimum energy efficiency standards for England and Wales, so landlords have had three years to plan for this, but it would appear that many are unaware.
The legislation is known as the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) and comes into effect on 1st April 2018.
In summary, the new minimum level of energy efficiency means that:
- from 1 April 2018, landlords will no longer be permitted to grant new tenancies extend or renew a tenancy to an existing tenant if the property has an EPC rating of band F or G. This would include a tenancy moving from a fixed term to a statutory periodic tenancy;
- from 1 April 2020, landlords must not continue letting a rental property which is already let if that property has an EPC rating of band F or G.
According to the English Housing Survey, 11.4% of homes in the private rented sector were rated F or G in 2011 but other figures are suggesting that up to 35% of rental properties will not comply with the new standards.
So for landlords with a property of F or G rating, the property could be un-lettable under this new legislation and could require a significant sum of money to bring it up to a lettable standard.
The improvements that could save you the most energy depend on your property, but typical examples include:
- insulation, eg solid wall, cavity wall or loft insulation
- heating
- draught-proofing
- double glazing
- renewable energy generation, eg solar panels or heat pumps.
Landlords can also do simple inexpensive things, like changing lightbulbs and down-lighters for LEDs.
The Residential Landlords Association has a helpful video on this topic:
Landlords with below E rated properties should take action now if they wish to avoid legal headaches in the not too distant future.
This could include up-grading their properties or, if they cannot afford to do that, or the numbers simply don’t stack anymore, then they may have to consider selling the property.
With energy prices set to increase due to the double whammy of an explosion in an Austrian processing facility and a shutdown of a major pipeline network in the North Sea, consumers are going to be far more conscious of energy bills going forwards.
This will mean that a poorly rated property may struggle even more to sell.
Here are LandlordBuyer we are actively looking to buy properties that fail the new minimum energy efficiency requirements. We will buy any property in England and Wales, in any condition which is rented or empty.
The benefit to selling to us is that we are genuine cash buyers with a cash fund standing by. We offer a no-hassle, fast, efficient, and professional property buying service where we can purchase your property to your time frame - sometimes in as little as 7 days.
There are no estate agent fees, no viewings, and no hassle with us as your buyer.
We pride ourselves on our fair service and will provide a bespoke and no-obligation offer for your property within 48 hours of you contacting us.
Clearly, as the new MEES regulations come into affect, many landlords may realise that their only option is to sell up and the market could see a significant number of energy in-efficient properties coming on for sale all at the same time.
Therefore, the sooner you contact us, the sooner you can mitigate the impact of this legislation on your rental property if it is going to fail, and avoid any house price correction because of it.
We are only a phone call or a click away and you have nothing to lose by getting in touch.