According to one lettings agency, it will take at least 18 years for all private rental properties to achieve an EPC rating of C or higher.
According to research by Hamptons – part of Connells – it would take until 2042 for all rental properties to comply with the new rules proposed by the Labour Party.
The Conservatives planned to increase energy efficiency requirements so that all private rented homes would have to have an EPC rating of C or higher, but these plans were scrapped in 2023.
But now the new Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero Emissions, Ed Miliband, says the government will reinstate these targets so that all privately rented homes will have an energy performance rating of C or higher by 2030.
According to Hamptons, 39% of rental energy performance certificates have moved up to a higher category so far this year. While this figure is above the long-term average, it is still below the rate of energy improvements in the years before 2018, when the requirement to achieve an energy performance certificate rating of at least E was introduced.
To meet the proposed 2030 target, around 340,000 rental homes will need to be renovated each year to achieve at least EPC rating C by then. Around 115,000 homes will be renovated to achieve EPC rating C by 2024. This means the rate will need to triple each year by 2030.
So far this year, just over half (55%) of all privately rented properties issued with a new energy performance certificate achieved a rating of C or better, compared with 48% of owner-occupied homes.
Given the increasing importance of EPC rating C, an upgrade of rental properties to a new EPC grade was most likely as the rating increased from D to C.
Half of homes previously rated D received a C or higher rating when revalued this year. 29% of homes previously rated EPC E received a C or higher rating when revalued. Conversely, only 9% of homes previously rated EPC C received a B or higher rating.
Of all homes that received a new EPC rating in 2024, 39% moved into a higher category, 48% remained unchanged and 13% dropped to a lower category.
Data from energy performance certificates carried out so far this year suggests that between 3 and 4% of rental properties fail to achieve the EPC ‘AC’ rating.
However, before the changes to the EPC methodology in mid-2022, this figure was between 7 and 8%.
The new methodology reduced the assumed environmental impact of electrical appliances and, in some cases, resulted in homes heated with electricity rather than gas being placed in higher categories. It also means that EPC ratings prepared before 2022 may change.
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