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There’s plenty of help available to registered private landlords looking to improve the energy efficiency of their rental properties. Read on to find out more and call us on 0808 808 2282 or complete our email contact form for free and impartial advice.
If you are a registered social landlord please visit our page on how we can support social housing providers.
Benefit from making your property more energy efficient
Making your rented properties more energy efficient could add value, make your properties more attractive to new tenants, lead to lower turnover of tenancies, and reduce potential problems such as damp.
Improving energy efficiency should also increase the rating on your property’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), helping you meet minimum energy efficiency standards.
You can read more about the minimum standards below.
In addition to this, improving energy efficiency should lower energy bills for your tenants, making them warmer at home and reducing their risk of falling into fuel poverty.
In the financial year 2021-2022, we helped landlords reduce lifetime energy bills for their tenants by £2.7million. This averaged out as a lifetime saving of £4,400 per property.
Advice and property assessments
Whether you’re looking to discuss your EPC, talk through the various funding options or have your property assessed in depth, we can help. Our free, impartial advice service is funded by the Scottish Government and supported by a network of specialist advisors operating across Scotland.
If a property visit is appropriate, one of our specialist advisors will carry out an assessment and provide you with a tailored report outlining:
- The current energy demands of your property
- Recommended improvements
- The approximate cost of making these improvements
- Potential fuel bill and carbon savings
- Any potential income you could make from installing a renewables system
- The estimated improvement in the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) score
Our specialist will talk you through the report, helping you decide what’s right for you and your property. You can also get advice over the phone at a time that suits you – just call us on 0808 808 2282 or request a call back.
You can read case studies of homeowners who've made energy efficiency improvements or installed renewables on the Green Homes Network.
Financial support for landlords
Whether you’re looking to spread the cost of energy efficiency improvements with a loan or to secure payments for energy generated by a renewables system, we can help you work out what funding option is right for you. Have a read through the various options below and call us 0808 808 2282 to find out more.
The Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan is funded by the Scottish Government and open to registered private sector landlords, acting either as an individual or a business that owns privately rented properties.
The loan can be used for a variety of energy efficiency improvements such as insulation, and home renewables systems such as heat pumps.
Funding can also be used for connections to an approved district heating scheme.
Smart Export Guarantee
Following the closure of the Feed-in Tariff to new applicants in March 2019, the UK Government recognised the need to pay small-scale renewable energy generators for the electricity they export to the grid. The Smart Export Guarantee came into force from 1 January 2020 and is open to homeowners who install, or have already installed, a renewable electricity generating system, such as solar PV.
Meet the minimum energy efficiency standards with our support
The Scottish Government has published its finalised Heat in Buildings Strategy which outlines the steps it will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Scotland’s buildings and to remove poor energy performance as a driver of fuel poverty.
The Strategy consolidates its ambitious approach to the zero emissions heat transition, providing a firm foundation for the heat transition in Scotland. It also confirms its approach to the introduction of a regulatory framework for energy efficiency and heat supply which strengthens previous commitments made in the 2018 Energy Efficient Scotland Route Map, so that it covers both energy efficiency and zero emissions heating to the extent that The Scottish Government’s powers allow.
For the Private Rented Sector, The Scottish Government will now work with the sector to introduce regulations in 2025, requiring all private rented sector properties to reach a minimum standard equivalent to EPC C from 2025 where technically feasible and cost-effective, at change of tenancy, with a backstop of 2028 for all remaining existing properties. The previous option to introduce a standard of EPC D will not now be taken forward.
The Scottish Government will seek to consult during 2022 on a standard of EPC C (equivalent) for all tenures, together with a proposed all-tenure zero emissions heat standard and any legislation needed to underpin this.
The draft regulations use EPCs to measure minimum energy efficiency standards. Recommendations will be based on an EPC recommendation report which landlords can use to find out what work they can do to improve their property’s energy efficiency to help meet minimum standards.
There are some key exemptions proposed in the draft regulations, which outline specific circumstances when a private landlord would not need to meet minimum energy efficiency standards. These include situations where:
- All relevant energy efficiency improvements have been made.
- Relevant improvements will damage the fabric or structure of the property.
- Access to carry out work has been refused or unreasonable conditions have been set by the tenant or a relevant third party.
- There are protected species in the property that can’t be disturbed.
- The relevant improvements can’t be carried out on the property as it affects the listing or conservation status.
- When the landlord plans to dispose of a property through demolition.
For all exemptions, it’s proposed that:
- Local authorities will create and maintain their own register of exemptions. This will record the type of exemption, proof of exemption, and the date the exemption is valid until.
- Landlords need to supply proof of their exemption to the local authority.
- Most exemptions will last for five years, unless there’s a temporary abeyance.
In these cases, it is proposed that the landlord must register information with the local authority to support this, by way of a valid exemption.
The draft regulations propose that local authorities enforce the minimum standards. This includes recording and monitoring exemptions, and if necessary, serving a penalty notice on landlords that don’t comply with the standards.
The proposed penalties are:
- Up to £2,000 if a landlord has let a property that doesn’t meet minimum standards, in breach of the regulations, for less than three months.
- Up to £4,000 if a landlord has let a property that doesn’t meet minimum standards, in breach of the regulations, for more than three months.
- Up to £1,000 if a landlord provides false or misleading information in connection with the compliance notice detailed in regulation 17(2).
- Up to £2,000 if a landlord fails to comply with a compliance notice, in breach of regulation 20(4).
Local authorities can also add a publication penalty to all of the penalties above. This means that the local authority may publish details of the breach and the amount of penalty imposed on the exemptions register.
Landlords can appeal the decision of a penalty notice review – to find out more, read the draft guidance.
If you need to make improvements to your property, now’s the time to start. A private landlord specialist from Home Energy Scotland can talk you through the new standards and help you work out what improvements to prioritise over your whole portfolio. To find out more, call us on 0808 808 2282 or request a call back.