The UK Government’s energy policy is failing older houses across the British countryside by giving home owners inaccurate information and encouraging damaging retrofits on homes built before 1919, it is claimed.

From 01 April 2018 it will be illegal for a private landlord to let a property with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating lower than E to a new tenant and from 01 April 2020 this will apply to all existing tenancies.

These regulations, commonly known as the minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) are causing concern across the private rented sector but they are set to have a particular impact on older rural property, according to the Country Landowners Association (CLA).

Read the full article at Property Wire

Residential property surveyors who are members of SAVA are being hit by a “triple whammy of more work, more cost and more risk”, according to an energy assessor association.

West Country assessors’ group DCHI said changes being introduced by the NES-owned organisation are believed to result from increased claims over surveys, which may result from a ‘compensation culture’ fostered by lawyers.

As a result surveyor members of DCHI, carrying out SAVA’s Home Condition Surveys, have said they are facing tougher audits and higher insurance costs, and many say they are thinking about leaving the industry or moving away from SAVA.

Read the full article on the Energy Assessor Magazine website

The Green Deal will be re-branded over the summer as the new private sector owners prepare to re-launch the failed government scheme with improvements to how finance loans can be accessed, alongside a direct marketing strategy.

Greenstone Finance, which bought the Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC) earlier this year alongside Aurium Capital Markets for £40 million, is already developing a series of improvements for the currently un-named new offering, which will begin offering new loans shortly.

Kilian Pender, founder and chief executive of Greenstone Finance, told SPP earlier today that the company has already begun investing in the existing technology in place to support the Green Deal, particularly the online customer experience.

Read the full article on the Solar Power Portal website

The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015 mean that, from April 2018, private non-domestic (and domestic) landlords must ensure that properties they rent in England and Wales reach at least an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E before granting a tenancy to new or existing tenants. These requirements will apply to all private rented non-domestic properties – including properties where there has been no change in the tenancy arrangements – from April 2023.

This guidance document is aimed at non-domestic landlords, Local Weights and Measures enforcement authorities and others with an interest in the non-domestic private rental sector, such as letting agents and other property management agencies. The document provides guidance and advice on:

• Scope of the regulations: the steps a landlord should take to determine whether their property is covered by the regulations, and the steps they should take to ensure their property complies with the minimum level of energy efficiency;
• Relevant improvements: how a landlord can identify appropriate energy efficiency improvements for their property;
• Cost effectiveness: how a landlord can calculate whether particular improvements would be cost effective to install;
• Exemptions and exclusions: the exemptions framework and the steps a landlord should take to register a valid exemption;
• Enforcement: the enforcement framework and the options open to enforcement authorities when policing compliance with the minimum standards, including information on fines and other penalty options;
• The appeals framework: landlord appeals will be heard by the First-tier Tribunal, part of the court system administered by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service; the guidance discusses the steps a landlord will need to take to lodge an appeal, and how that process will be run.

Where a landlord believes that an F or G EPC rated property they let qualifies for an exemption from the minimum energy efficiency standard, an exemption must be registered on the PRS Exemptions Register.

Get your copy of the guidance from the BEIS Website

New proposals to ensure all privately rented homes north of the border meet a minimum standard of energy efficiency have been published by the Scottish government.

The consultation seeks views on requiring all private rented sector properties to have a minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of ‘E’ from 2019 – and increasing to EPC level ‘D’ from 2022.

Landlords would have six months from the point of assessment to improve their homes and those who fail to comply with the standard would be subject to a fine.

Around 28% of private rented sector properties have the lowest energy efficiency ratings of E, F and G – compared to 22% in the owner-occupied sector and 10% in the social housing sector.

Read the full article on the: Landlord Today Website

Nearly two-thirds of UK landlords are not fully aware of regulation aiming to improve energy efficiency in the buy to let sector laid out in the new Minimum Energy Efficient Standards (MEES) set to come into effect in April 2018.

The 2015 Energy Efficiency Regulations set out minimum energy efficiency standards for England and Wales, banning new leases on properties with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating below E from the 1^st April 2018 onwards. The ruling is applicable to all properties, aside from those who have applied for an exemption. The regulation means that landlords whose properties to do not meet the minimum standard will be unable to renew existing tenancies or agree to new lets.

Worryingly however, 25 per cent of landlords are unaware of the requirements of the MEES regulations, whilst 42 per cent claim to be only ‘vaguely aware.’ 27 per cent do not know the EPC rating of their property, and 49 per cent are unaware of the penalty for breaching the ruling. 31 per cent underestimated the penalty for doing so.

Find out more on the : Residential  Landlord Website

Homes across Great Britain will get extra support to make their homes cheaper and easier to keep warm thanks to Government reforms that have come into force 1st April 2017.

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