Nearly 1.5 million private rental homes in England still have an EPC rating of D or below. That is the cold fact behind this week’s announcement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as reported by the NRLA. The government has pushed back the 2028 deadline for landlords to reach EPC C and cut the maximum they must spend from £10,000 to £3,500 per property. For the 2.3 million households renting from private landlords, the question is not about landlord finances, it is about whether their homes will ever get warm without breaking the bank.
Who qualifies, and who doesn’t
The new rules apply to new tenancies signed after the yet-to-be-announced implementation date, which is now expected in 2030. Landlords must bring their property to EPC C unless the cost of doing so exceeds £3,500. If it does, they can register an exemption. That is a sharp drop from the previous £10,000 cap, which had already been criticised as too low by some campaign groups. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that a typical 3-bed semi needing cavity wall insulation, loft top-up, and double glazing could cost £5,000–£8,000. At £3,500, many landlords will simply claim exemption, and tenants will stay in cold homes.
What it costs a typical 3-bed semi
Take a semi-detached house built in the 1960s with an EPC rating of E. To reach a C, it typically needs loft insulation (about £300), cavity wall insulation (£700–£1,200), double glazing on one or two windows (£1,500–£3,000), and possibly a new boiler or heat pump (the latter at £7,000–£13,000 after the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant). The total easily exceeds £3,500. The landlord exempts the property. The tenant then pays around £2,800 a year for gas and electricity, roughly £900 more than if the home were at EPC C, according to Ofgem figures. That gap will widen as the price cap rises again in October.
But the cap cuts both ways
What this misses is the wider impact on the UK’s housing stock. The government’s own Climate Change Committee has said that upgrading all homes to EPC C by 2035 is essential for net zero. The private rented sector is the worst-performing tenure: 23% of private rental homes are rated D or below, compared with 13% of owner-occupied homes. Delaying the deadline and lowering the cap means fewer upgrades happen sooner. Landlord groups argue that the £10,000 cap was unaffordable given rising mortgage rates and the cost of living. Tenant groups counter that the cap is now so low it effectively kills the policy. Both are right, and nobody is fixing the root problem: the UK has some of the oldest, leakiest housing stock in Europe.
What homeowners and tenants can do now
For tenants in cold homes, the first step is to check your EPC rating on gov.uk. If it is below C, you can ask the landlord for improvements, and if they refuse, you can report them to the local authority. For landlords, the £3,500 cap means you should prioritise the cheapest measures: loft insulation and draught-proofing cost under £1,000 and can lift a property from E to D. For homeowners thinking of buying a rental property, factor in the cost of future upgrades now. The deadline may be 2030, but the cheapest time to insulate is before you let the property. The government has not yet confirmed when the new regulations will take effect, but the NRLA expects a formal consultation by the end of this year. Watch for it, and act before the next deadline shift.
Frequently Asked Questions
The government has pushed back the deadline for private landlords to meet EPC C from 2028 to 2030 for new tenancies. Existing tenancies are not affected, but the change gives landlords two extra years to comply.
The maximum a landlord must spend per property has been reduced from £10,000 to £3,500. If the cost of reaching EPC C exceeds that amount, the landlord can register an exemption.
