The Residential Landlords Association has secured a £1.5m funding pot from energy company E.ON - the only such funding dedicated solely to the private rental sector.
From April 2018, unless a valid exemption applies, landlords must have an Energy Performance Certificate rating of E or above to let homes out to new tenants or renew leases under the new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES). The association says 34 per cent of member landlords who rent out an F or G rated property say they are unable to afford to make the improvements needed to bring it up to an E rating or better.
Under the scheme, RLA member-landlords can apply to E.ON to fund energy efficiency improvements - specifically those targeted towards tenants on benefits whose properties are falling below the required EPC rating.
Qualifying work includes cavity wall and loft insulation, funding towards the cost of E.ON installing external wall insulation for solid wall properties and towards the cost of the firm installing a boiler upgrade or replacement.
According to the English Housing Survey there are 298,000 privately let properties in EPC bands F and G, with the RLA’s latest figures showing the average amount spent by a landlord to bring a property to a band E or above is £6,781.
“Hundreds of thousands of properties are not currently meeting the minimum standards set to be introduced next April and we would urge any landlords who believe they fit the criteria to get in touch to find out exactly what they are eligible for” says RLA chief executive Andrew Goodacre.
The £1.5m has been offered as part of the Energy Company Obligation scheme that places legal obligations on large energy suppliers to fund energy efficiency measures in domestic premises.
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Haha, the grants are their anyway as part of the Big Energy Companies ECO obligations.
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