Skipton Group has called on the Labour Government to consider ways to incentivise and support landlords in the forthcoming Autumn Budget.
The group urged the Government to both incentivise and provide practical help for landlords as they endeavour to reach the new set target of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of Band C on their properties by 2030.
This followed the latest EPC landlord data from Hamptons – part of the Skipton Group – this week, that warned it may take landlords up to 18 years to meet EPC standards.
To meet the Government’s 2030 target, the same number of homes will need to see energy upgrades over the next five years as have made improvements in the last 30 years.
In addition, Skipton Building Society’s EPC customer survey found that a third of landlords are not fully aware of their buy-to-let (BTL) property’s current EPC ratings.
46% of landlords planned on using their personal savings to pay for the home improvements in their BTL properties, while a further 39% of landlords may be forced to consider selling their properties.
Charlotte Harrison, CEO of home financing at Skipton Group, said: “Landlords play an integral part in the UK’s housing provision, and we know they face significant challenges in greening their homes from an awareness, cost, and access to appropriate guidance and skills perspective.
“We believe that when it comes to the decarbonisation of our housing stock, the Government needs to consider ways to incentivise and support landlords in forthcoming Budgets to enable them to reach the new proposed target.
“Making the necessary improvements to their properties is critical to helping the country meet its net zero target and, importantly, will help to address some of the challenges that the cost of living, energy and climate crises have had on people living in the UK.”
She added: “Support could include making energy improvement costs tax deductible, taking it a step further by offering government grants, or matching energy home improvement spending £1 for £1, for example.
“To date, there have been more incentives for homeowners and social tenants to green their homes than there have been for landlords, offering an opportunity for this government to equalise that imbalance.”
Harrison concluded: “At Skipton Group, we are committed to playing our part in helping make Britain’s homes greener.
“Our EPC Plus offering, in partnership with Vibrant, is an important part of our support for landlords and offers hands on advice to help them understand the best options to upgrade their property, including a bespoke guide on how the landlord can achieve the rating, how much it could reduce their tenant’s energy bills by, and signposts to sources of funding potentially available.”
