Miliband has watered down EPC rules, claims Generation Rent

Activist group Generation Rent is accusing Energy Secretary Ed Miliband of watering down new EPC rules.

Last week Miliband confirmed a new deadline requiring all landlords to bring rental properties up to an EPC rating of C or higher by October 2030.

This will apply to all rented homes, including those with existing tenants as well as new tenancies, unless there is an exemption.

Previous proposals required landlords to spend up to £15,000 per property, but Miliband cut this to £10,000 per property.

There would also be lower caps applying to homes valued below £100,000. 

All qualifying energy efficiency improvements made from October 2025 would be counted towards the cap.

Even though landlords who break the new rules can be fined up to £30,000, the Generation Rent group is upset. 

A statement says: “Despite our campaigning, the government has watered down the original proposals, meaning many renters will be stuck in fuel poverty.”

It continues: “The … cap of £15,000 … would have meant 2.30m homes upgraded, leaving just 158,000 exempt. This lower cap makes a further 395,000 homes exempt.” 

And the group suggests there may be too many exemptions and claims:

• homes valued under £100,000 are disproportionately located in areas with existing fuel poverty;
• there may be many homes when spending £10,000 still fails to get EPCs up to a C rating; 
• solid wall insulation, which may be required to meet a C rating, has a poor reputation; and 
• homes that lose over 5% of their value by upgrading may not have to be improved. 

Generation Rent complains that “all these exemptions add up” and claims that they will leave around 707,000 rental homes at EPC ratings below C, and 578,000 households left in fuel poverty.

“It’s a real concern that those who lose out will predominantly be those renters most in need” says the group’s statement.

This article is taken from Landlord Today