A newspaper’s investigation has revealed over 100 homes on the royal estates of King Charles and Prince William fail current EPC standards.

The Guardian’s analysis of some 700 domestic lets on the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall and the Sandringham estate found that 20% have EPC ratings of F or G.

Since 2020, it has been illegal to rent out properties with EPC ratings below E, unless they are exempted – The Guardian says fewer than one in 12 of the F and G-rated properties it inspected had been exempted.

The newspaper writes: “In some cases, the royal estates appear to be using gaps in the regulations to continue letting properties out. This includes the homes of dozens of farmers, who are living in poorly insulated and hard-to-heat farmhouses they lease from the two duchies. 

“Some farmhouses are not subject to current regulations, depending on the type of tenancy in place.”View image in fullscreen

Other homes let by the Royal Family are not covered by the rules, as they apply only to tenancies that began after October 2008. 

These older tenancies often house elderly and vulnerable people with health conditions, with some living without central heating and reliant on unhealthy coal fires or expensive electric heaters.

A Royal households spokesperson said Sandringham “has a mixture of property and tenancy types, which are fully compliant with Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) regulations.

“We continue to invest significantly in an ongoing programme of maintenance and improvement works on all properties, including those out of scope of the regulations, to upgrade energy efficiency across the estate. 

“While we do not comment on individual cases, these regulations do not apply to every property on the estate and exemptions are necessary on a small number of properties.”

As most agents will know, 2018 was when current MEES regulations came into force, designed to ensure a minimum EPC rating of E for all new private tenancies, which was extended to existing tenancies from 2020.

Landlords must spend up to £3,500 on each property to bring them up to standard or cite one of the exemptions allowed under the rules. 

If they fail to do so, but continue to rent out the property, they can be fined up to £5,000.

You can see the entire Guardian article here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/15/royal-estates-rent-out-homes-that-fail-to-meet-legal-energy-efficiency-standards