Land lords to face new energy efficiency requirements

Land lords are to face minimum energy efficiency requirements under new regulation to be brought in as part of the Green Deal. Energy and Climate Change Secretary, then Rt Hon. Chris Huhne MP, has announced new regulation that from 2016 will prevent land lords refusing reasonable requests from tenant’s for improvements to a property. In addition, from 2018 land lords will no longer be able to rent out houses of business premises which fail to gain an ‘E’ energy efficiency rating, a move which the Department of Energy and Climate Change estimates will see the need for improvements to at least 682,000 properties. Speaking about this recent announcement Mr Huhne said, “Our proposals provide a voice for tenants living in poorly insulated, draughty homes. The Green Deal is a win-win opportunity for landlords by removing the upfront cost of work to upgrade the property making it cheaper to run, more environmentally friendly and ultimately more attractive to rent. For those landlords who don’t take up the Green Deal then we will get tough so that by 2018 the poorest performing rented housing stock is brought up to a decent standard.” These new proposals announced at the second reading of the Energy Bill in parliament last week are to form part of the Green Deal, which offers incentives for energy efficiency improvements to be made to properties, by covering the upfront cost of improvements which are gradually paid back through savings on lower fuel bills.

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