The main points for landlords of the Energy Act 2011 are:

- From April 2016, private residential landlords will be unable to refuse a tenant's reasonable request for consent to energy efficiency improvements where a finance package, such as the Green Deal and/or the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), is available.

- From April 2018, it will be unlawful to rent out a residential or business premise that does not reach a minimum energy efficiency standard (the intention according to the Department of Energy and & Climate Change is for this to be set at EPC rating 'E').

How many properties will be affected?  

10% of the properties we manage have received an EPC rating of F or G so remedial works would be required before they were relet in 2018.  Looking in more detail, the most serious fault seems to be old boilers which are likely to be replaced by 2018 anyway so these should pass without extra investment on the part of the landlord (assuming most boilers are replaced every 10 to 15 years anyway).

Of more concern are properties with electric heating or storage heaters which usually means a low rating.  If we manage your property, your property manager will be in touch to discuss this soon.  We are not recommending taking any action now - but if repairs are replacements are required, changing the type of heater may be advisable.

Other properties just need a few ratings points which could be had by swapping the bulbs to low energy ones - which again will probably be standard by 2018 anyway!

We were delighted to note whilst doing this research that 40% of properties under our management have not yet been tested as there has been no change of tenant in the last approx. 5 years.

You said something about voids?

As the changes aren't coming in for another 6 years and most properties will not need extra investment, its tempting to forget about Energy Efficiency completely for a landlord when times are tough.  However, we see that on average properties with a rating of E, F or G had 53% more void days in the last 5 years than those with a top rating of A to D.  This suggests that Energy Efficiency is important to tenants once they are in a property, even if they are still not really consulting an EPC before chosing a property. Cavity wall insulation anyone?