Council issues its first Civil Penalty to landlord for breach of Energy Efficiency Regulations
East Lindsey District Council’s Housing Standards team have issued their first Civil Penalty to a local landlord under The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) Regulations 2015.
The landlord of the property on Anchor Lane, Ingoldmells, received the £1,250 fine after failing to comply with a Notice issued by the Council requesting improvement to the energy performance rating to bring the property up to the required energy efficiency standard. Landlords of privately rented domestic and non-domestic property must ensure that their properties reach at least an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E before granting a new tenancy.
Since the new powers were granted the Council has investigated over 150 properties following
pro-active investigation work and have found several that have been let by Landlords in contravention of the regulations. The Council is currently pursuing various other Landlords through its enforcement process to improve the standard of the properties.
Principal Housing Standards Officer, Austen Ellis said; “The regulations were introduced to ensure that tenants can live in homes with adequate levels of heating and insulation, and whilst we will always assist landlords to comply with their obligations, we will also take robust action against those landlords that fail to provide their tenants with a property that is decent and safe.”
The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards came into force on 1st April 2018 with the aim of encouraging landlords and property owners to improve the energy efficiency of their properties by preventing the granting of new tenancies where the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating was F or G.
For existing tenancies, the restriction comes into force on 1st April 2020 i.e. existing tenancies cannot continue where a property has an EPC rating was F or G.
The regulations were amended last year so that from 1st April 2019 with the removal of the ‘no cost to the landlord’ exemption. From this date a landlord would have to make a financial contribution, capped at £3,500 per property for any energy efficiency improvements made to an EPC F or G rated property to bring it to the required standard.
The £3,500 cap includes any third party funding, such as grants, but if these are not available a landlord would have to provide the finance to improve the property so that the EPC rating was E or above. There are some exemptions but further information can be found here:
