{"id":11206,"date":"2018-02-09T14:15:11","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T14:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buyassociation.co.uk\/?p=11206"},"modified":"2018-02-09T14:15:11","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T14:15:11","slug":"landlords-need-prepare-new-epc-rules-april-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/news\/landlords-need-prepare-new-epc-rules-april-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Landlords need to prepare for new EPC rules from April 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>All privately rented properties in the UK will need to have an EPC rating of E or higher from this April &#8211; and this could be raised to a minimum of band C by 2035.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/2018\/01\/23\/self-managed-vs-letting-agent-landlords-decide-fees-ban\/\">Landlords<\/a> will need to ensure their buy-to-let properties have minimum <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/2018\/01\/11\/save-money-and-energy-with-zero-carbon-sustainable-homes\/\">energy performance<\/a> certificate (EPC) ratings of E on any new tenancy on a privately let property from April 2018. Where there is no change of tenancy, landlords will have until 1 April 2020 on domestic properties before the minimum rating rules apply to all existing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/2018\/01\/08\/new-three-year-tenancy-policy-supports-landlords-and-tenants\/\">tenancy<\/a> arrangements.<\/p>\n<p>EPC ratings currently range from A (most efficient) down to G (least efficient), and one must be obtained for every property in England and Wales that is either <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/2017\/11\/21\/invest-in-new-build-cover-cost-daily-starbucks\/\">newly built<\/a>, sold or rented. The certificates are valid for 10 years, and provide information about the property&#8217;s energy usage and running costs, as well as advice on minimising energy output.<\/p>\n<p>If a local authority finds a landlord in breach of the new regulations after the April start date, they will be able to impose a fine of up to \u00a35,000 per property, so it is vital that landlords are aware of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/2018\/01\/17\/landlords-soon-sued-letting-unfit-properties\/\">new rules<\/a> &#8211; and take action to improve their property&#8217;s energy ratings if they fall below the required standard.<\/p>\n<h4>Cutting the bill<\/h4>\n<p>Installing double glazing, low-energy lightbulbs, room thermostats and extra insulation are all ways of improving a building&#8217;s energy performance. Although the measures can sometimes be costly for the homeowner, overall they will make the property more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/2018\/02\/27\/landlords-soon-forced-accept-dss-tenants-new-ruling\/\">desirable for tenants<\/a> as they will cut energy bills as well as make homes more comfortable to live in.<\/p>\n<p>This week also saw MPs back a Bill that could mean that all domestic properties in England and Wales will need to achieve an EPC rating of C or higher by 2035. The proposal was put forward by Sir David Amess, Conservative MP for Southend West, who said that people living in &#8220;fuel poverty&#8221; should be helped to raise their EPC ratings.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed Bill was unanimously supported in the Ten Minute Rule Motion, and will receive a second reading on 16 March which could see it progress further towards becoming legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All privately rented properties in the UK will need to have an EPC rating of E or higher from this April &#8211; and this could be raised to a minimum of band C by 2035. Landlords will need to ensure their buy-to-let properties have minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) ratings of E on any new<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/news\/landlords-need-prepare-new-epc-rules-april-2018\/\" title=\"ReadLandlords need to prepare for new EPC rules from April 2018\">&#8230; Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1069,"featured_media":11219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,6],"tags":[298,15,341],"class_list":["post-11206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buy-to-let-landlords","category-investment","category-uk-housing-market","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-landlords","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}