European
Building directives now state that by 2016 all properties new or old
must be carbon neutral in order to be sold, rented or put up for
market. While the Energy
Performance Certificate has been around since 2007, many
Landlords have not really taken on board the necessity for a low
carbon property and hitherto, seen it as more of an inconvenience and
costly exercise to have an energy efficient re-fit of a property.
However,
times are changing rapidly and now landlords, like many homeowners,
are seeing the benefits of sustainable energy practices and energy
efficient design in their properties. New research indicates that
more and more landlords are now carrying out green home improvements.
The
National Landlords Association (NLA) found that 51% of property
owners in the buy to let market have undertaken energy efficient
upgrades to two of their properties, with a further 12% making
changes to five or more.
Landlords
are very sensibly taking advantage of government grants such as Warm
Front, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and Community
energy Saving Programme (CERP) before they are stopped on 31 st
December this year. Warm Front offers heating and insulation measures
for people who own their own home or are private renters on income
support or disability allowance.
CERT
offers free or minimal cost energy efficiency upgrades such as loft
or cavity wall insulation from some of Britain’s largest energy
companies. All properties can potentially be helped under this
scheme, although priority is given to the elderly or those on low
incomes.
The
Green Deal,
set to launch on the residential market in October, will be the new
initiative that replaces these schemes, offering energy efficiency
improvements to homeowners by way of a loan that is repayable via
their energy bills.
All
rented properties must now have an accompanying Landlord
EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) that details exactly how
energy efficient a property is, after a survey carried out by a
registered energy assessor. An EPC rating between 'A' to 'G' is then
given in accordance with the findings. A sheet of attached
recommendations accompanies the certificate and details ways in which
money and energy can be saved, via the implementation of energy
efficient equipment such as as LED light bulbs, an upgraded boiler,
loft insulation and solar pv technology, to name but a few.
It
makes sense for landlords to really make the effort in improving
their properties on the basis of these results, as it will ultimately
make their tenants happier owing to increased comfort and reduced
energy bills as well as improving the market value of the property.
More and more renters today are looking to move somewhere that is
energy efficient and cost effective so a property with a higher EPC
grade will be ultimately more attractive, than it's counterpart with
an unhealthily low grade.
Post For Just EPC by Paul Patane
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