EPC Targets scrapped in green u-turn

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled the plan - along with a ban on binning gas boilers - saying that property owners would not be forced to make expensive upgrades to meet a minimum EPC rating of C by 2025.

That work could cost landlords and homeowners around £8,000 per home.

He said that while the government would continue to subsidise energy efficiency, it would never force any household to do it.

Prime Minister's move to bin the EPC deadline

The decision was slammed by tenants' groups, who said the Prime Minister's move to bin the EPC deadline was a 'colossal error' that would worsen the climate crisis, the cost-of-living crisis and renters' health.

Dan Wilson Craw, the deputy chief executive of Generation Rent, said: "The government's dithering over these standards in recent years has led to the housing sector being unprepared for the original 2025 deadline.

"Ditching it completely is both cruel and out of proportion to what the Prime Minister wants to achieve."

He added: "Cancelling higher standards for rented homes is a colossal error by the government.

"One in four private renters lives in fuel poverty and, without targets for landlords to improve their properties, they face many more years of unaffordable bills."

'An essential part of a home's quality'

He continued: "Energy efficiency is also an essential part of a home's quality. Backtracking leaves the government's levelling up mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes in shreds.

"Both tenants and landlords need support to upgrade private rented homes, and the Prime Minister recognised that 'big government grants' help make it affordable.

"But without higher standards, landlords have no reason to accept tenants' requests for improvements."

Uncertainty surrounding the EPC policy

The Prime Minister’s decision was welcomed by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) who said that the uncertainty surrounding the EPC policy had been damaging to the supply and quality of rented properties.

The NRLA's chief executive, Ben Beadle, said: "The NRLA wants to see all properties as energy efficient as possible.

"However, the uncertainty surrounding energy efficiency policy has been hugely damaging to the supply of rented properties.

"Landlords are struggling to make investment decisions without a clear idea of the government's direction of travel."

'Landlords will not be required to invest substantial sums'

He added: "It is welcome that landlords will not be required to invest substantial sums of money during a cost-of-living crisis when many are themselves struggling financially.

"However, ministers need to use the space they are creating to develop a full plan that supports the rental market to make the energy efficiency improvements we all want to see.

"This must include appropriate financial support and reform of the tax system which currently fails to support investment in energy efficiency measures."

More time to make the transition to heat pumps

The Prime Minister also announced that landlords and homeowners will have more time to make the transition to heat pumps, which are more energy efficient than gas boilers.

He said that households will only have to switch to heat pumps when they are changing their boiler - and then not until 2035.

Mr Sunak said that gas boilers will not have to be 'ripped out' to meet targets and that heat pumps will need to be made cheaper, so they don't impose high costs on families.

He also said that there will be an exemption for some households and that the boiler upgrade scheme will be increased by 50% to £7,500.

2030 deadline for buying diesel- and petrol-powered cars

Mr Sunak also postponed the 2030 deadline for buying diesel- and petrol-powered cars and vans to 2035, aligning it with the EU deadline.

However, he said that the government remains committed to reaching 'Net Zero' emissions by 2050 but will be more pragmatic and transparent about how its policies will affect people.

He said: "The risk here to those of us who care about reaching Net Zero, as I do, is simple: if we continue down this path, we risk losing public consent for our action."

'Good and bad news for student landlords'

Simon Thompson, the managing director of Accommodation for Landlords, said: "The decision from the Prime Minister brings good and bad news for student landlords.

"Good because we know there isn't a tight deadline with an expensive bill to meet an EPC rating of C.

"And bad because lots of landlords will have already invested thousands of pounds on improvements - or left the student accommodation sector."

He added: "It didn't have to be this way - the government should have committed sooner without creating uncertainty in the sector."