Housing Secretary Michael Gove has this morning said his government should ‘relax the pace’ of EPC reforms expected from private landlords.
In a Sunday Telegraph interview following the Uxbridge by-election, Gove gave strong hints that the timetable would change.
The paper says: “Mr Gove admitted that in his own department the government was ‘asking too much too quickly’ of landlords, who will be banned from renting out their homes unless they pay for green measures such as insulation and heat pumps to meet a new minimum energy efficiency threshold by 2028.”
And the Telegraph continues: “Citing existing financial pressures on landlords [Gove] added: ‘I think we should relax the pace.’"
In recent days Rightmove revealed that 16 per cent of homes listed on the portal had previously been let privately, and states that concerns over stricter Energy Performance Certificates were now the main reason for landlords selling.
The Gove interview on green issues follows the failure of Labour to win the Uxbridge by-election, with both main parties citing the introduction of an expensive Ultra Low Emission Zone tax as being to blame.
Controversial Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan - who is almost daily demanding the powers to introduce rent controls in the capital - has made ULEZ a personal mission.
Today’s Sunday Times suggests that following a meeting with Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer, Khan is likely to tone down the financial impact of the measure on London residents.
Tomorrow - Monday July 24 - Gove is forecast to announce a revised planning policy to boost flagging house building totals.
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Too little, too late.
Like that will stop landlords selling 🙄. Maybe remove section 24, scrap the renters bill, and you may impact it
The guy is an absolute richard-head. If they slowed things down a bit - let’s say E to D then I’d support it - as a landlord and tenant. Let’s see. Give has his supporters, but be under no illusion, he’s a one man monkey band.
Ok we all turn green, tenants become homeless and our 2% impact on the world is cured …. Meanwhile China and India carry on
How many labels say ‘made in China’? The global north export a large amount of products & industrial processes to China, EG clothing, appliances or steel production. All that creates emissions for the benefit of other countries.
India’s emissions are high due to coal & methane from rice & cattle. How much rice does India export to the rest of the world in a normal year?
Did you know 40% of India’s energy comes from renewables? How about the UK as a comparison?
When you look at emissions per capita both India & China fall well down the list, in fact UK is not far behind China at all with USA & Oz at the top.
It just depends where you get your information and how that media outlet wishes you to view the world.
Misinformation is divisive and if emissions/global heating is something which concerns us it’s better we focus on ourselves first.
But the market is moving at its own pace and it’s accelerating. Tenants and banks don’t want to rent or invest in energy wasteful houses and flats (EPC Grade D and worse). A cold tenant in fuel poverty is bad for business. One of my company’s investors just found Knight Frank in London refusing to take on a flat of his for management because it was not yet EPC Grade C. So he’s had a draft predicted EPC prepared and is insulating one main wall and installing an efficient, ‘fit for purpose’ central heating system. The 22 million EPCs on the public national database have become increasing accurate over the past 15 years and landlords ignore them at their financial peril.
Gibbons gibberish again.
I have not worked out, is he is after publicity - nothing in his profile - or if he is just trolling for JSO, the Green party etc.
Ok lets all install heat pumps and listen to the tenants tell us how much they appreciate the increase in electricity usage. I think a 4KW unit is more expensive to use than the traditional gas boiler.
Sadly, its all too little too late as we go into year the 9th year since governement started its politically motivated attack on the sector. Even if all the wrongs were righted on SDLT, S24, CGT, TFA, MEES etc, they would take too long to unwind, should have thought about these things 3-4 years ago when many of us were shouting out loud that the worst supply crisis since WW2 was coming. Those chickens are roosting, no getting rid of them now.
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