Washing Machine Energy Ratings for Houses was the
phrase one Warrington landlord told me a few years ago when we were
talking about the colour bar chart graphs that every property has had for over
10 years now. Now these weren’t brought in to use the whole palate of ink in
people’s printers, but to increase the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing
stock. The
vast majority of Warrington landlords are, by now, acquainted with the legislation
that came into force on the 1st of April 2018, that means all new
and renewed private tenancy agreements must have an Energy Performance Certificate
(EPC) rating of E or above, otherwise it would be illegal to rent the property
out (EPC ratings go A to G – A being the best and G the worst).
Yet, from 1st April 2020, those rules
will be extended to also cover existing Warrington tenancies,
meaning that under the new legislation, properties with an EPC rating of F or G
will be classed as unrentable – meaning it will be illegal to rent the property
and the landlord will be liable for a fine of £5,000.
It
will be illegal for any landlord to let any Warrington Rental property with an
EPC rating of F & G from April 2020
Back in 2018, there was a loophole for Warrington landlords of F
& G rated rental homes on new tenancies, where they did not need to upgrade
the property for five years if it cost them money (called the ‘no cost to
landlord’ exemption rule) – yet back in April 2019 this exemption to improve
rental properties was removed – so they too are included in these new rules.
Therefore, this means that Warrington landlords must use their own
cash to cover the cost of improving their Warrington property to at least an EPC
band E….
43 Warrington (WA1)
properties will be illegal
to rent out from the 1st April 2020
.. as they have energy ratings of F and G.
Now this requirement to upgrade the property is subject to a
spending cap of £3,500 (including VAT) for each rental property, as landlords
only need to spend what they need to, to improve their Warrington property to
EPC rating E.
In cases where a Warrington landlord is unable to improve
their Warrington property to EPC rating E within the £3,500 cap, then they
still need to spend their hard earned cash and carry out the most appropriate
measures which can be installed up to the £3,500 cap, and then register an
exemption (with 3 quotes from 3 contractors) for their property on the basis
that all relevant improvements have been installed and the property
remains below an E.
Warrington homes such as some F rated flats on Wilson
Patten Street or some G rated terraced houses on Cairo
Street, Church St and Salisbury St will all be illegal to rent out by April
If you are a self-managing Warrington landlord or a landlord
with another Warrington agent, then feel free to pick up the phone and chat
through any concerns with regard to these new regulations, how to read a EPC
graph, how to find the EPC rating of your home, in fact anything – call me. The
last thing you need is a £5,000 fine on top of the £3,500 improvement bill.
One final thought though – it might be wise for Warrington
landlords who have had their rental properties for a while now to get a new EPC
carried out on their property (something we can help with irrespective of
whether you are a landlord of ours or not) as recent research has also acknowledged
that some early EPC’s understated the thermal efficiency of solid walls. As countless Warrington rental properties are
pre 1925, which is when most (not all) new properties were built with cavity
walls, the Dept for Business, Energy and Business Strategy have now
recalibrated EPC’s to give a truer result. This probably means that some solid
wall properties, Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses and converted flats, presently
rated F under an EPC will no longer demand any improvement works and certainly less
building work may be required in the case of a G rated rental property.
Email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk or call on 01925 235 338 – we are based on the Warrington Business Park, Long Lane, WA2 8TX. There is plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.
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