EPC requirement 'may deter private landlords'

Energy efficiency requirements may mean more intuitional landlords and fewer private ones, delegates heard when Savills’ head of residential research Lucian Cook addressed a meeting in Reading.

Those attending Savills’ Responding to the ESG Agenda seminar at the Select Car Leasing Stadium in October, heard from Mr Cook and Sir David Clementi, chairman of the King’s Cross Estate.

Mr Cook explained the Government’s intention for existing homes to have at least an EPC C rating by 2035.

He went on: “What it will do, in the first instance, I think is it will put a lot of pressure on buy-to-let landlords who already face a significant regulatory burden.

“If they are teetering on the edge as to whether or not, having cashed in on some strong price growth and with the prospect of perhaps the capital gains tax burden goes up, if they think they’re going to have to stick their hands in their pockets for £10,000 £15,000 or £20,000 to improve the energy performance of their homes, it might encourage some of them to head for the exit.

“The people who are better placed are the institutions, the Build-to-Rent sector. They can build to encapsulate this. It’s much less of a problem to that part of the sector.

“So I think this will move that shift from private to institutional ownership of the private rental stock.”

Sir David Clementi, former deputy governor of the Bank of England and, chairman of the BBC, and current chairman of the King’s Cross Estate, explained the area’s regeneration and how it achieved its ESG goals.

Then, in a summary of the housing market, Mr Cook illustrated significant peaks in house buying close to the ending of Stamp Duty holidays, first intended in March, and then again in June after the scheme was extended.

He noted: “This is a good representation of the way, saving say, £15,000 in Stamp Duty can cause very many people to spend £25,000 – £50,000 more on buying a house.

“The sad reality is that when there’s Stamp Duty to be saved, a vast number of people will leave any financial acumen they have accrued over their lifetimes at the door, when they go in to buying homes.”

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