Nov

Major lender to spend £11m offering landlords free EPC upgrade reports

admin

Skipton Building Society is offering landlords a free EPC report for up to 10 properties to help make them more energy efficient.

The lender is investing £11 million to give all its mortgage customers, including buy-to-let landlords, a free EPC Plus assessment and report. Landlords only need to have one mortgage with Skipton to benefit from the 10 assessments.

The EPC Plus goes one step further than a traditional EPC report, providing the property’s current energy efficiency as well as its potential EPC rating.

It includes a bespoke guide on how the landlord can achieve this, how much it could reduce their tenant’s energy bills by, and signposts sources of funding. It also estimates the tonnes of carbon produced by the household.

Each report also details the typical costs associated with making any of the recommended changes and provides access to registered, independent tradespeople who come recommended to carry out any changes.

It says this will help landlords save hundreds of pounds in the run-up to potential new regulation coming into force in 2025, which would mean new tenancies would need an EPC band C.

For properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Skipton can also help landlords find out if they are eligible for any exemptions under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Regulations and how to enter this on the private rented sector exemptions register.  

 Kris Brewster (pictured), interim chief commercial officer, says home energy efficiency is a huge challenge where everyone needs to play their part.

“It is only right that the business community steps up to the mark, and as a customer-owned organisation we’re reinvesting some of our profits to help landlords save money and improve the energy efficiency of their properties,” he adds.