News
Labour to fund EPC upgrade work on rented homes up to £30,000
Friday 27th September 2024
Nigel Lewis
Labour has revealed plans to fund the upgrade of rented properties to meet its 2030 plan to have all rented homes reach an EPC band C or above.
The scheme will apply across approximately half of the UK within 'eligible postcodes' where older and usually pre-1919-built housing stock is the costliest to upgrade.
Landlords with one property will be able to access funds of up to £30,000 to complete property upgrades to get them to a minimum EPC band C level.
But those with more than one property will then have to 50% fund subsequent properties within their portfolios, with the Government putting in £15,000 and landlords topping this up to £30,000, although theses totals will vary significantly depending on the work needed.
The funding for each property will be split equally between two types of upgrade - improvements to energy efficiency and also the installation of low-carbon heating equipment such as solar panels or air-source heat pumps.
Postcode lottery
But the scheme is not blanket - it is postcode dependent covering around 440,000 six-digit postcode areas out of the UK's total of 900,000. Also, it will only apply to landlords who have low-income tenants who are either on benefits or have incomes below £36,000 depending on family size, and properties that are currently EPC band D to G. But landlords must only meet one of the three 'pathways' to be eligible - i.e. postcode, benefits or below the maximum income level.
To stop fraudulent applications, landlords will have to agree to be included within a central database which will be used to monitor the number of fully funded upgrades a landlord has received under the scheme.
"This will ensure landlords are prevented from receiving fully funded upgrades to more than one property under the Warm Homes: Local Grant," the lengthy guidance says.
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