The lettings chief in a prominent regional agency says she’s delighted that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has done a dramatic U-turn on some net zero initiatives.
Those measures dropped include obliging landlords to spend heavily on improving the energy efficiency of rental properties within the next two years.
Gabrielle Argue, head of lettings at DM & Co Homes, says removing the threat of legal action against buy to let investors, along with a more persuasive approach, would be good news for already hard-pressed landlords.
She says: “Dropping the stick and offering a bigger carrot is a major step in the right direction by Rishi Sunak. It’s important that the government is still committed to achieving net zero by 2050, but incentivising energy efficiency rather than mandating it is a reasonable, grown up and admirable stance for the prime minister to take.
“Forcing landlords to upgrade the energy performance certificate rating of their properties would have been incredibly expensive, especially given the age of the majority of rented property across the UK.
“Ruling out any such legislation will provide some much-needed relief to hard-pressed landlords, many of whom have been extremely worried by the potential investment needed to at a time when their budgets are so squeezed.”
Instead of legislation forcing energy efficiencies, Sunak has announced that the boiler upgrade scheme will be increased from £5,000 to £7,500 - although the total size of the fund remains the same. This grant is available to support the installation of heat pumps and biomass boilers in homes and non-domestic buildings in England and Wales.
Argue continues: “We welcome this move to incentivise and encourages landlords rather than penalise them, and increasing the grant by 50 per cent is a much better offer given the costs involved. This will allow the sector to plan these improvements on an affordable schedule, which is much more palatable for landlords with large portfolios.”
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Gabs, let’s look at the evidence - the ‘voluntarily’ approach doesn’t work. Britain has the most energy wasteful housing stock in the developed world. 8 million families will be living in fuel poverty this winter. Most of them live in PRS houses and flats that are not fit-for-purpose.
Have you read the comments from many domestic landlords on this site? They have absolutely no intention of spending their money on improving their assets. No intention of putting 2 x layers of Rockwool in the loft, no intention of insulating walls, no intention of insulating roofs, no intention of installing storage heaters or efficient heat pumps.
Why do you think we have food hyiene standards enforced in restaurants, why do you think we have speed limits and speed cameras on the roads outside schools? ‘Voluntary’ have never worked.
Insulting walls! Best yet Gibbons!
Thanks Clarke. Glad you’re reading my posts in such great detail. You’ve made my day!
little things please little minds - keep it up Gibbo
Gibbo is off again. He really does not know how to read the room. He has yet to provide ANY evidence for his 8 million families living in fuel poverty. Previously it was 8 million Victorian homes. I wonder if he is really Polly Bleat transitioning.
I thought it was Victorian slums? Have the landlords upgraded the houses?
The magic 8 million figure is there again!!! Gibbo loves quoting statistics he plucks out of mid air - do you think he doesn't realise that we are all laughing at his silly comments???
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