Freedom of Information requests made by Reapit have revealed that councils are failing to enforce energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector.
Reapit asked several of the country’s biggest councils how many fines they had issued to landlords for not meeting minimum EPC standards, and found that only three – Bristol, Liverpool and Newham – had fined any landlords at all.
Major cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds had never fined a landlord for not meeting a minimum EPC, even though the law has been in place since April 2020.
The lack of fines isn’t due to landlords getting their properties exempted from the minimum EPC of E, either. Most of the councils asked didn’t know how many local properties had an exemption, and those who did only had 325 exempt properties between them – even though the latest English Housing Survey stats found that 12% of privately rented properties are EPC E or below.
Instead, the issue seems to be a lack of enforcement. One council admitted that it was only investigating in response to complaints, and not doing any proactive checks.
Unequal impact
According to Neil Cobbold, Commercial Director at Reapit, councils’ failure to enforce the law means that millions of law-abiding landlords can’t compete on a level playing field.
“By failing to investigate bad landlords who can’t provide a simple valid EPC certificate when a property is rented, councils are sending the wrong message to landlords who abide by the law. Lack of enforcement means unscrupulous landlords can continue to offer substandard properties without fear of getting caught.”
It also throws the future of energy efficiency regulation into question. The government plans to increase the minimum EPC to C from 2030, but if councils aren’t enforcing the rules that are already in place, it could just increase costs for good landlords – and ultimately increase rents for tenants.
Later this year, councils will get more access to property information thanks to the Private Rented Sector Database introduced by the Renters’ Reform Bill. According to Cobbold, councils should use this data to enforce energy efficiency standards better rather than setting up expensive new licensing schemes.
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