Applies to all Existing Tenancies in Residential Private Renting Sector

The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 established the new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) in the residential private rented sector. From 01 April 2018 it was unlawful for a landlord in England or Wales to enter into a new letting (or extend or renew an existing letting) of a residential property with an F or G energy efficiency rating unless an exemption had been registered.

From 01 April 2020, all existing tenancies are now caught by the Act, and it will be unlawful for landlords to rent out homes that are required to have an energy efficiency rating of F or G unless an exemption has been registered.

The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 were amended in 2019 by The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 which imposed a requirement on landlords to contribute to the cost of improving their sub-standard property (F or G rating) up to the value of £3,500 (inclusive of VAT) unless an exemption could be sought.

As a Landlord if you cannot improve your property to energy efficiency rating of E for £3,500 (inclusive of VAT) or less, you should make all the improvements which can be made up to that amount, then register an ‘all improvements made’ exemption.

Landlords who let F or G-rated properties without having registered a valid exemption will be liable to financial penalties of up to £4,000 as well as “publication penalties”. A publication penalty means that the local authority will publish details of the landlord’s breach on a publicly accessible part of the National PRS Exemptions Register.

By now landlords should have taken steps to ensure that their properties are up to standard or, alternatively, have claimed an exemption. Detailed information can be found on the gov.uk website, here.

Here at Simply-Docs the property templates were updated to reflect these legislative changes and can be used for all existing tenancies from 01 April 2020.