A large proportion of landlords are looking to mitigate the impact of high inflation on their investments by upgrading the energy efficiency of their existing rental properties, according to a study commissioned by GetGround that surveyed hundreds of landlords across the UK during February.
The study found that 82 per cent of landlords feel that making energy efficiency upgrades to their properties goes some way to helping tenants protect themselves against rising costs. Nearly seven in 10 (69 per cent) feel a level of responsibility to help their tenants mitigate the cost of living crisis.
Half of the landlords surveyed plan to upgrade their properties to grade C or higher over the next six to 12 months, with fewer landlords looking to make investments in new builds and other energy efficient properties. Less than 1 in 10, 9 per cent, said they don’t intend to make any improvements until inflation is back under 5 per cent, which isn’t expected to happen until 2023.
New government rules state that by 2028 all rental property must have achieved an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of grade C or higher. With the annual cost of energy set to increase by an average £700 per household over a third of landlords, 34 per cent, believe making energy efficiency upgrades to their properties goes some way to providing support.
In spite of this, inflation isn’t changing the approach many landlords will take to expanding their property portfolios.
Less than a third of landlords, 28 per cent, said they are now more likely to invest in new builds as a result of living with higher inflation, and a similarly modest proportion, 31 per cent, indicated an intention to invest only in properties with EPC ratings of grade C or higher in future.
Moubin Faizullah Khan, CEO of GetGround, said: “Newer builds and other properties where higher performing energy efficiency standards have already been achieved are, understandably, always going to be attractive to landlords.
“Yet, observing landlords knowingly commit to investing in underperforming property when mandatory rules about EPC ratings are just around the corner indicates that many landlords continue to pick property that they know they can add value to. This isn’t just good economics for them, but goes a long way to helping to continually improve the quality of much-needed rental stock across the whole of the UK.”
