Expert believes educational materials must be offered
Changes to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) requirements are expected to come into force in 2025 when all properties covered by a new tenancy agreement will need an EPC rating of ‘C’ or above; all rental properties will need to meet this standard from 2028.
However, new research from Mercantile Trust has highlighted that, from over 150 broker responses, 48.5% of brokers are not confident they fully understood the government’s proposed new rules. On top of this, 49.2% of brokers said their property investor clients had not asked them for any information on the EPC regulatory changes.
To help brokers and their clients deal with the impending EPC changes, Mercantile Trust has partnered with Elmhurst Energy to create a free EPC hints and tips guide for landlords and property investors.
Improving education
The guide is designed to help landlords create a plan of action, establishing what needs to be done to each property within their portfolio in order to secure an EPC rating of ‘C’ or above, what the likely costs are to do so, and where the financing can come from.
The guide covers:
• EPC Basics
• Benefits & Advantages
• Funding EPC Improvements
• Opportunities
• Help & Assistance
Maeve Ward (pictured), director of commercial operations at Mercantile Trust, said more needs to be done to improve the educational material for both brokers and consumers on EPC regulation changes.
While Ward said the looming 2025 deadline is not set in stone just yet, she said that consumers need to understand the costs involved in upgrading their homes ahead of time in order to prepare for the financial expense.
“You have got a pool of people that genuinely do not know what their current EPC rating is, and they might not necessarily know where to find out what it is either; even if they are able to uncover their property’s EPC rating, it is not unusual for them to not understand the information presented,” Ward said.
The cost involved in moving it from where it currently is to where it needs to be, Ward said, for some will be a relatively small figure, but for others, it could be a significantly higher number.
“Of course, consumers are then thinking how they will be able to fund this expense, especially with the impact of the cost-of-living crisis; this is why I believe educational awareness on this subject is so important,” Ward added.
Ward said it is on brokers to be able to educate their customers to enable them to find the right outcome depending on what they need to achieve and how many properties are affected, as well as their individual financial situation.
“Working with Elmhurst Energy, we have produced our EPC guide because everyone in the industry needs to play their part in meeting the demands of the changing regime surrounding energy efficiency,” Ward said.
She added that there are bridging lenders who are already funding energy efficiency-related refurbishments and are available to meet the inevitable increase in demand.
Overall, Ward believes the most important variable is increasing the frequency of education so that customers are better informed and therefore are able to make better decisions.
How confident do you feel regarding the proposed changes to EPC ratings for rental properties? Let us know in the comment section below.
