More than a third of landlords say they are not confident that they will be able to bring their properties up to an energy performance certificate rating of ‘C’, according to research by The Mortgage Works.
The poll of 750 landlords found that 35% were unsure about whether they would be able to meet this target energy efficiency standard, which the government wants all properties to reach by 2025 whenever a new tenancy is beginning or by 2028 for properties with tenants already in place.
The biggest barrier cited by 51% landlords was the constraints of the property, meaning that there were limitations on what type modifications were possible for that building.
Access to the property while tenants are living there was a worry for 44% of those polled, as was disruption and limited payback on the investment for the same percentage of landlords.
Other concerns included the limited tangible benefit to tenants of the upgrades, the difficulty of finding reputable and available tradespeople, the hassle of managing work and knowing what is required, and lack of funds.
The Mortgage Works head Daniel Clinton says: “Given the concerns and challenges facing landlords in not only making the necessary improvements, but financing them, it’s perhaps no surprise that more than a third of landlords are not confident they will be able to bring their properties up to the required EPC ‘C’ standard.
“As more than two in five landlords say a lack of funds or access to finance is one of the biggest challenges they face in greening their properties, we are doing our bit to support them with the recent introduction of our Green Further Advance product, with rates up to 50 per cent lower than our standard further advance products.
“It’s also great to hear that the government would like to introduce a new financial support package to help people improve the energy efficiency of their homes, however, we hope that any such scheme would also be open to helping landlords meet their requirements.”
Credit: Leah Milner