It will take no less than 18 years for all private rental properties to achieve an EPC rating of C or above, a lettings agency claims.

Research by Hamptons – part of Connells – says that it would take until 2042 for all rental homes to become compliant with the new rules suggested by Labour.

The Conservatives planned to increase the energy efficiency requirements so that all private rented homes needed to have an EPC rating of C or above.  However, these plans were axed in 2023.

But now new Energy Security and Net Zero minister Ed Miliband says the government will reinstate these targets so that all private rented homes have an EPC C rating or above by 2030.

Hamptons says that so far this year 39% of EPCs carried out on rental homes have seen the property move into a higher band.  While this figure is above the long-term average, it still sits below the rate of energy upgrades seen in the years running up to 2018 when the requirement to achieve an EPC rating of at least an E was introduced.

To meet the proposed 2030 target, every year until then, around 340,000 rental homes will need to make improvements to achieve at least an EPC C rating.  Around 115,000 homes will make sufficient improvements to achieve an EPC C rating in 2024, meaning the rate will need to increase threefold each year until 2030.

So far this year, just over half (55%) of all privately rented properties that had a new EPC certificate granted achieved a rating of C or better, compared to 48% of owner-occupier homes.

Given the increasing importance of an EPC C rating, rental homes moving EPC bands were most likely to move from a D rating up to a C rating.  

Half of homes that were previously rated D went on to achieve at least a C rating upon reassessment this year.  Meanwhile, 29% of homes that had an EPC E rating went on to be reassessed with a rating of C or above.  Conversely, just 9% of homes that previously had an EPC C rating went on to achieve a rating of B or above.

Of all the homes that received a new EPC rating in 2024, 39% found themselves in a higher band, 48% saw no change and 13% dropped into a lower band.

Data from EPCs carried out so far this year suggests that between 3-4% of rented homes will be unable to achieve an EPC rating of A-C.  

However, prior to changes in the EPC methodology in mid-2022, this figure was between 7% and 8%.  

The new methodology reduced the assumed environmental impact of electrical appliances, in some cases pushing homes heated by electricity rather than gas into higher bands.  It also means EPC ratings produced before 2022 are liable to change.