The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is urging landlords and agents acting on their behalf to bring themselves up to date on the effects of the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 which are now in force.

From April 1 tenants living in private rental sector property with F and G rated homes have been able to request improvements, such as more insulation. The landlord is then legally bound to bring the property up to at least an E rating, although not (for the moment at least) if it requires upfront costs. 

Now on the RICS website the institution quotes Amanda Stubbs from law firm Trowers and Hamblins, who sets out the longer-term effects of the new regulations and the consequence of non-compliance.

“The regulations provide that properties with an Energy Performance Certificate rating of F or G are to be classified as ‘sub-standard’. Landlords must not grant a lease of sub-standard property after April 1 2018. Furthermore, from April 1 2020, residential landlords must not continue to let out sub-standard property. This is a two-year lead in time to allow residential landlords to take action” she says. 

She says landlords or agents acting on their behalf may qualify for limited exemption of up to five years where finance for the works is not available through the Green Deal or grant funding. 

Stubbs also says that breaches may attract a £2,000 – rising if non-compliance continues for three months or more – as welll as “reputational sanctions in the form of ‘naming and shaming’ of non-compliant landlords.”