Today sees the first step of a long-term government drive to improve energy efficiency in the private rental sector through the MEES programme – Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards.

Ultimately this will make it unlawful from April 2018 to let homes in England and Wales which do not achieve a minimum Energy Performance Certificate rating of ‘E’.

From today all private sector residential tenants have the right to request energy efficiency improvements to their properties. This applies to longer-term assured and regulated tenancies. Providing no upfront costs are required, any landlord who declines to improve the energy efficiency could be deemed ‘unreasonable.’

If a tenant considers that the landlord has not complied with the regulations, they can take the case to a First-tier Tribunal General Regulatory Chamber, which will hear and determine applications.

That’s the immediate change but then there are later deadlines too.

From April 2018 a landlord cannot grant a new tenancy of the property with an EPC rating below an E and April 2020 when it will apply to all rented properties.

It is likely – but not so far confirmed – that the minimum standard is likely to rise to a D rating by 2025 and a C Rating in 2030.

Blog Post from Letting Agent Today

Central Housing Group is a residential Letting and Management agency, established in 2000.

We achieved national acclaim after winning the ‘Green Letting Agent of the Year 2014’ award, hosted by the UK Landlord Accreditation Partnership, when our team attended the UK Landlord Accreditation Partnership (UKLAP) Conference & Award Ceremony at the Thistle Hotel in Marble Arch in March 2014.

We specialise in supplying local authorities with privately rented accommodation across London.

We are proud to have been recognised for our green contributions in recent years and to have won a national award for our efforts, as we have worked tirelessly to improve the energy efficiency of all properties in our management, playing our own small part in reducing energy consumption in homes we manage across London under our Guaranteed Rent Scheme.

We have arranged for 70 properties under our management to have their lofts and cavity walls insulated. We were also able to secure funding, via the Mayor of London and the Energy Saving Trust, to enable us to replace and upgrade 35 boilers and complete gas central heating systems with ‘A’ rated energy efficient condensing boilers plus replacement of radiators, timers, thermostats and radiator valves, all free of charge to our landlords.

We are committed to assisting our tenants in saving on energy costs and to reducing the number of households that are experiencing fuel poverty.

See details of our Guaranteed Rent Scheme here