The Government has published the Warm Homes Plan which is intended to provide £15bn to UK households over five years to upgrade five million homes by 2030.
One of the consequences which the Government is looking to achieve is the tripling of the number of homes with solar panels. It is also aiming to reduce energy bills by up to £600 annually.
The Plan introduces new rights for tenants in the private rented sector (“PRS”).
These include:
- Landlords will need to upgrade their properties to meet EPC Band C across two metrics by October 2030.
- The methodology for calculating EPCs will change to provide a more comprehensive representation of building energy performance.
- The amount of money that a landlord will be expected to spend on improving a property’s EPC rating will increase from the current level of £3,500 per unit to £10,000 per unit.
- There will be a spending cap on low value properties where £10,000 would represent 10% or more of a property’s value.
- Grants and other financing options will be available to landlords. These include grants under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
- New standards will be introduced for new build homes which will have low-carbon heating, high levels of energy efficiency and solar panels by default.
It has been noted that these provisions represent a move from insulation towards technologies such as solar panels and heat pumps. There could however be supply problems for the new technology items with much of it emanating from China. This could impact on the landlords’ ability to upgrade their properties by the target date of October 2030.
