Braintree Landlords – EPC Improvements To Consider

We know being a landlord is challenging, but it is vital landlords continue to provide the best standard of service to tenants. We believe focusing on energy efficiency makes sense, as this is a crucial component of letting property.

If your rental property isn’t up to scratch, you will not be allowed to let it out. If your rental property is barely up to standard, it will limit what you can afford to charge, and it will reduce demand. Therefore, landlords should prioritise the energy-efficiency of their rental property, and on how to improve it.

How is the energy-efficiency of your rental property?

The Rightmove study looked at 15 million homes across England and Wales, and found:

• 59% of properties hold a D, E, F or G rating

• The potential to reduce this percentage to 11% if recommended improvements are followed

• Up to 11 million homes in England and Wales don’t have an EPC rating

Rightmove have also provided a number of ways for landlords to boost their EPC rating, and some of these options are affordable.

• Install solar panels – While this is the most commonly recommended step, it is expensive, and will run into thousands of pounds

• Switching to low energy lighting – This is also a highly recommended option, but is far more affordable, the average cost is less than £40

• Insulating the hot water cylinder is a sensible option, and can be arranged at around £20

• Draught-proofing single glaze windows costs around £100

• Adding or improving loft insulation is sensible, and the average cost is £223

• Upgrading your heating control is sensible, but more expensive, with an average cost of £400

What changes would you make to your rental property?

Rightmove’s director of property data Tim Bannister says: “It’s encouraging to see that there are some energy efficiency improvements that can cost less than £100, so it’s definitely worth checking your EPC if your home has one to see if there are small changes you could make to try and improve your rating. The bigger challenge is for those homes with much lower ratings that will cost a substantial amount of money to improve. There are a number of homeowners who don’t feel an urgent need to make changes now unless it makes a big difference to the cost of their household bills or if it’s going to make their home more attractive to a potential buyer if they’re planning to sell.”

Tim concluded by saying; “It’s early days with some lenders now starting to introduce green mortgages as incentives, but homeowners need to be better informed that how green your home is will become increasingly important as we aim to move towards a net zero society, and they need more help to understand why making improvements are so important for the long term.”

For all rental enquiries in Braintree, please feel free to call us on 01376 322988 or why not email us at braintree@intercounty.co.uk. With considerable experience in the local rental market, and free valuation services, we look forward to helping you make an informed decision in the Braintree rental market.