Minimum Energy Efficiency

Standards – new strategy for tackling

cold homes

Ian Wright

Environmental Health Service Manager

Content

• MEES – the regulations & their pros and cons

• The Oxford approach to cold homes

– Non-HMO PRS

– HMO Licensing

The domestic PRS Minimum

Standard – legal framework

• 2011 Energy Act – gave powers to introduce a

minimum standard in the PRS

• March 2015 - The Energy Efficiency (Private

Rented Property) (England and Wales)

Regulations 2015 made.

• Come into force from April 2018

• Applies to domestic and non-domestic sectors.

The Domestic PRS Minimum

Standard

• From April 2018 privately rented properties in

England and Wales will need to reach a minimum

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E

before they can be let

• Landlord’s duty to ensure the property complies

with the regulations.

• Regulations apply to all properties that are:

– legally required to have an EPC, and

– let on an assured, regulated or domestic agricultural tenancy.

Exemptions

• Improvements only required where they can be

made at no cost to the landlord using Green Deal,

Energy Company Obligation (ECO) or third party

grant funding

• Compliance through EPC band E or registering

an exemption where the improvements are not

possible or practical

Trigger points

• Minimum standard will apply in a phased manner:

– New tenancies (to new or existing tenants) from 1 April 2018

(“soft start”);

– All domestic tenancies (even where there has been no change

in tenancy) – from 1 April 2020 (“backstop”), where there is an

EPC.

Enforcement – Compliance Notices

• Can be issued by a LA where they believe that a

landlord may be in breach of the regulations

(currently or during past 12 months);

• Must be in writing (hard copy or electronic);

• Used to request information from the landlord

which will help LA to decide whether that

landlord has in fact breached the prohibition, for

example:

– an EPC;

– the current tenancy agreement;

– any Green Deal Advice Report in relation to the property.

– any other relevant document that the enforcement authority

requires in order to carry out its compliance and enforcement

functions.

Enforcement – Penalty Notices

• Can be issued by an LA where they are satisfied

that a landlord is (or has been in the last 18

months) in breach of the PRS MEES

• Can relate to a financial penalty, a publication

penalty or both

• Maximum penalty of £5k

• Carry a right to appeal for the landlord to General

regulatory Chamber

• If not paid by a landlord, the LA can take the

landlord to court to recover the money.

Penalties

Pros and cons of MEES for LAs

• Cons

– Only applies where an EPC is required – many HMOs are

exempt

– The no cost to landlord exemption severely weakens ability to

require improvements

– In 2 tier authorities EPC enforcement is not a priority for

Trading Standards

• Pros

– Consultation already underway on introducing financial

contributions for landlords

– Penalty notice regime provides opportunity for cost recovery

Oxford - Town & Gown…

• The percentage of households who own their home

is low in Oxford – 47% compared to 63% in

England.

• The percentage of households who rent their home

in the private sector is high – 28% in Oxford

compared with 17% in England

• Private sector renting grew by almost 50%, from

nearly 11,000 households in 2001 to nearly 16,000

households in 2011

Dreaming Spires?

• Oxford is often cited as the least affordable UK

city

• 17 super output areas that are in the 25% most

deprived in the country

• In 2014, 6840 Oxford households (11.9%) were

estimated to be in fuel poverty, which is above

both the national average (10%) and the figure for

the Southeast (8.3%)

• 7th highest rate of rough sleeping in England in

2017

Political landscape

• “Building a world class city for everyone”

• Green policies and housing are a major political

battleground

• Corporate Priorities:

– A Clean and Green Oxford

– Meeting Housing Need

Dual approach

• Information & assistance

– Led by Environmental Sustainability Service

– Seen by sector as neutral

• Enforcement

– Complement HMO Licensing

– Non-HMO sector a concern

Promotion, education and cash

• Led by Environmental Sustainability Service

• Advising and signposting landlords on how to

improve property’s energy efficiency and thermal

comfort for occupants including using thermal

imaging

• Ran four events for landlords highlighting the

2016/2018 Energy Act requirements, the impact of

fuel poverty on life and health and available

funding

• This was supported by newsletters, flyers and

information on the website

• Seek out funding opportunities

The carrots…

• In 2014/15, the Council contracted National

Energy Foundation to manage Landlords grants

for tenants on benefits.

• This was a trial to offer landlords £500 towards

boiler installation, encouraging them to pay the

rest. As a result, 12 boilers were installed.

• In 2016 £35k funding from Ebico Charitable Trust

helped create the Private Rented Energy

Efficiency Grant fund (PREEG)

• Offered free surveys and 50% off all works which

are laid out in a work package for landlords.

• This involves installing simple energy efficiency

work; including loft insulation, pipe and cylinder

lagging, LED lighting, thermostatic radiator

valves (TRVs) and radiator foil for landlords.

PREEG outcomes

• Improved 58 properties

• 366 measures including 32 loft insulation installs

• Lessons

– Lack of interest from landlords even at 50% off

– Focussed on “small measures” – better to treat fewer

properties with larger sums

– Build capacity to deliver projects

Thermal imaging

• A project offering thermal imaging of rental

properties to help landlords understand the need

to improve their homes

• The thermal imaging involved both going out to

take the photos and the production of useful

reports for landlords highlighting issues with

heat loss from their properties.

– 2013/14 = 23 properties

– 2014/15 = 36 properties

– 2015/16 = 19 properties

• Outcomes

– Primarily awareness raising

– Community engagement

– Strengthened our “here to help” message

Enforcement

• Proactive approach to PRS enforcement in non-

HMO sector

• Whole house inspection approach

– 250 p.a. target

• 2 work streams:

– Complaints from tenants/residents

– Intelligence led targeting

Targeting F&G Rated properties

• EPC bulk data first obtained in 2012

• 55,400 properties in Oxford, 23,891 EPC

certificates, 1500 were rated F or G

• EPC data showed 7% of the PRS in Oxford as

having an unsatisfactory EPC F and G rating

• To ensure accuracy, the EPC data was checked,

and the Council’s knowledge of individual

properties to target the worst offenders

Outcomes

• 121 F/G properties identified with 59 inspected,

31 of which were whole house HHSRS

• All assessed properties had Category 1 hazard

for excess cold

• 107 other deficiencies found

• Nearly half of the inspections also found damp

and mould deficiencies

• Notices issued to secure improvements

Conclusions

• Using EPCs to target interventions is a valid

approach

• Low EPC ratings are likely to contain more

hazards than just excess cold.

• The level of other deficiencies found is significant

• Evidence of the likely health impacts of these

poorly performing properties

HMOs & MEES

HMOs – separate tenancies (1)

• HMOs may be exempt from requirement to

provide an EPC

• Guidance says to be exempt:

HMO’s (Houses in Multiple Occupation, for example these can be

bedsits, hostels, shared houses etc) which have not been subject

to a sale in the previous ten years, or which have not been let as

a single rental in the past ten years.

• Separate tenancy agreements – likely to be

exempt and these may house the more vulnerable

people

• No obligation to obtain an EPC on a letting of an

individual non self-contained unit within a

property, such as a bedsit or a room in a house in

multiple occupation (HMO).

HMOs – separate tenancies (2)

• However the property in which the unit is situated

may already have its own EPC covering that

property as a whole; this could be because the

property had been bought within the past ten

years, or because it had previously been rented

out on a whole-property basis

• If a property as a whole has a valid EPC and that

EPC shows an energy efficiency rating of F or G,

then the owner/landlord will not, from April 2018,

be able to issue new tenancies for non-self-

contained units within the property until steps are

taken to comply with the Regulations.

Dealing with HMOs - EPC register

based approach

• Extracted all EPCs

• Cross checked against HMO records

• List of HMOs with EPCs

• Filtered F and Gs

• Put a condition on each licence to request EPC

with E or above

• Follow up to check improvements

• 138 with F or G

• So far, 64 are now E or above

Application process

Condition requiring EPC

HHSRS as a backstop

• We inspect all HMOs prior to licensing & then five

year inspections

• If an HMO is exempt from requirement to provide

an EPC, then we will be able to identify any

Category One hazards and seek improvements

via Improvement Notice

Summary

• Continue to use F&G rated EPCs to proactively

target PRS properties

• In discussions with Trading Standards to agree

delegation of powers under:

– Section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972

– Section 9EA Local Government Act 2000

– Regulation 5 of the Local Authorities (Arrangements for the

Discharge of Functions) Regulations 2012

• Using MEES to maintain our profile in improving

energy efficiency & reducing fuel poverty