Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne revealed his plans to beef up the Energy Bill. This will ensure that properties cannot be sold or rented if they are draughty or inefficient homes. In particular, the Green Deal will crack down on landlords that rent these types of homes.
These changes will also make it easier for tenants to demand energy efficiency improvements.
Huhne states ?The Green Deal is a win-win opportunity for landlords by removing upfront cost of work to upgrade the property by making it cheaper to run,? and ?For those landlords who don?t take up the Green Deal then we will get tough so that by 2018 the poorest performing rented housing stock is brought up to a decent standard.?
The Green Deal
The Green Deal works by delivering energy efficient improvements at no upfront cost to homeowners and businesses with repayments made through savings on energy bills. The loans provided are attached to the property rather than the homeowner so the repayments are paid by the next owner of the property.
The golden rule of the scheme is that the cost of the repayments should not exceed the savings on the energy bills.
Some key dates to note
From April 2016, landlords will not be able to refuse ?reasonable requests? from tenants to make improvements to their property by using the Green Deal.
From April 2018, landlords will not be able to rent a house or business property that has less than an ?E? energy efficiency rating. This deadline will ensure that 682,000 properties will be improved according to Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
