Hamptons lettings agency says it’s calculated what types of homes will be simply unable to be improved to reach the government EPC targets. 

The Conservatives planned to increase the energy efficiency requirements so that all private rented homes needed to have an EPC rating of C or above.  However, these plans were axed in 2023.

But now new Energy Security and Net Zero minister Ed Miliband says the government will reinstate these targets so that all private rented homes have an EPC C rating or above by 2030.

Hamptons says that existing homes with lower EPC ratings and those unable to achieve a rating of at least EPC C are disproportionately older, cheaper, and likely to be located in the North of England.  

This is why the average EPC D rated home achieved a gross yield of 7.6% in 2024, outpacing a yield of 5.5% achieved on the average EPC A rated home, which tends to be newly built.  

EPC E rated homes achieved the highest yields of 7.9%. 

The agency claims that the value and the way many of these higher-yielding homes are built is likely to mean an EPC C rating is often unviable and, in some cases, unobtainable.  The reality is, that several landlords will hit a spending cap before reaching the proposed energy target.   

The agency says that for tenants, the financial benefit of a higher EPC rating is significant, particularly as energy prices have risen.  

Today, the average tenant will save £499 per year on their utility bills (gas and electricity) if their home is upgraded from an EPC D to EPC C rating, a 76% increase in savings since 2019.

Tenants in EPC E rated homes will save £1,248 per year, an increase of 83% since 2019.

For those private rental homes that can be significantly improved, Hamptons says it will take no less than 18 years for all  to achieve an EPC rating of C or above.

That would be 12 years beyond the government’s 2030 target.