Yahoo Finance Labour plots raid on landlords with new EPC targets and ‘immediate’ eviction ban
Labour is plotting a raid on landlords with plans to reinstate costly energy efficiency targets and abolish no-fault evictions “immediately”.
In its manifesto, published on Thursday, Labour said it would give landlords until 2030 to comply with new “minimum energy efficiency standards” – a plan previously shelved by the Tories.
Last year, Rishi Sunak scrapped proposed targets which would have required all landlords to upgrade their homes to an energy performance rating of C or above by 2028.
Energy performance certificates (EPC) are used to rank homes on their efficiency. Properties between A and C are typically cheaper to run.
But the targets, which included measures such as installing eco boilers and solar panels, would have cost homeowners thousands of pounds each.
Landlords, who can already be fined £5,000 if their properties are F or G, would have faced fines of up to £30,000 under the proposals and would not have been able to let their properties.
Labour has confirmed it will reverse the Tories’ decision to scrap new targets, and re-introduce as-yet-unknown standards to “sav[e] renters hundreds of pounds per year”.
Jessica Parry, of law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, said EPC upgrade requirements “could prove too costly” for some old building stock, adding: “It could mean that some properties are rendered obsolete, resulting in more properties being unavailable for rent.”
There are areas of England where only a small minority of homes are EPC C or above. In some towns across Lancashire, for example, less than a quarter of homes have an EPC C or above, according to the Office For National Statistics.
Owners of Victorian houses without cavity walls would face some of the biggest bills if they had to obtain an EPC C, with the National Residential Landlord Association (NRLA) putting the bill at around £25,000.
Keir Starmer’s party has also said it would “immediately abolish” Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions
The Tory manifesto pledge failed to make it through parliament in May after a backlash from MPs. Housing Secretary Michael Gove ruled that it would not go ahead without a “full court review”.
The document added that it would go further to help tenants “challenge unreasonable rent increases”.
Tenants can already challenge rent increases under current law, but many choose not to because they risk being served with a no-fault eviction notice if they do.
To ban no-fault evictions “immediately”, as promised, Labour would – if elected – either need to cancel summer recess and pass the Renters Reform Bill, a piece of legislation the Tories failed to get through, or pass a housing emergency bill for the sole purpose of banning no-fault evictions.
The latter option, the NRLA has said, would result in less protections for landlords because it would not carry any additional grounds for repossession – such as if the landlord wanted to sell.
Labour has not said whether it would wait for a review of the beleaguered court system before implementing the no-fault eviction ban.
It currently takes nearly seven months on average, from a claim being processed for repossession to a bailiff repossessing the property, according to Ministry of Justice figures.
This wait time does not, however, include how long it takes for a claim – once submitted – to be picked up by a government official.
Such long waits, lobby groups have warned, could lead to unpaying tenants left in situ for months on end, and force landlords to swallow discounts if forced to sell with tenants in situ.
Paul Shamplina, of law firm Landlord Action, said: “We need the courts to be fixed – I’ve been saying this since 2019 when the Tories first promised to ban no-fault evictions.
“Landlords and agents need confidence that they can get their properties back in a timely manner. Currently, the court delays are unacceptable. There aren’t enough bailiffs, and there aren’t enough judges.
“At the moment, landlord morale is at an all-time low. Rent arrears are up, and over the last 12 months court system performance has been the worst it’s been in 35 years.Without confidence, landlords will just accelerate section 21 notices before the ban which means good tenants leaving properties.”
On leasehold, Labour has also committed to enact a package of Law Commission proposals curbing leasehold enfranchisement, lifting barriers to right to manage and promoting commonhold.
The party said: “We will take further steps to ban new leasehold flats and ensure commonhold is the default tenure. We will tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rent charges. We will act to bring the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ private housing estates and unfair maintenance costs to an end.”
The Tories have passed the Leasehold and Reform Bill, but campaigners have said the legislation is a “watered down version” of what the Government initially promised.
