The legislation affects landlords – the core of the legislation is that landlords will not be able to let properties that have an EPC rating of lower than E.

However, the legislation has been designed to be cost neutral to a landlord, and exemptions (for the landlord) apply where this is not possible.

There are two key dates:

What happens if you don’t comply with the legislation?

Funding for Improvements

The Government is committed to ensuring the regulations do not entail net or upfront costs to landlords for the required improvements. Therefore landlords would be permitted to let a property below the minimum ‘E’ standard where the property has undertaken all those improvements that would meet the Green Deal’s ‘Golden Rule’ – that the cost of the work, including finance costs, should not exceed the expected savings. This calculation would take into account any funding available through:

a) Green Deal finance,
b) ECO funding,
c) Grant funding,
d) A combination of these funding mechanisms.

The landlord is free to contribute extra to the cost of the energy efficiency improvements in order to realise the benefits from installing measures. However there is no compulsion to do so.