The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money

Net zero excess ruined many landlords and placed a colossal burden on families. Now the target is delayed – but the Tories will not be easily forgiven

- Ben.wilkinson@telegraph.co.uk

Unreasonab­le net zero targets imposed by the Tories have long hung over ordinary people like the sword of Damocles. The deadlines have always been unhelpful and unattainab­le – but their imposition has neverthele­ss left households shrouded in uncertaint­y, unable to make simple and informed decisions about how best to invest in their homes.

For landlords, this ambivalenc­e was far worse. Property investors had been told they had to spend up to £10,000 on each rental home to ensure they hit energy efficiency targets by as early as 2025 – or they would be banned from letting them and even face fines and prison.

To make matters worse, the metric the Government had pinned its net zero homes strategy on was the ridiculous­ly flawed energy performanc­e certificat­e (EPC). It became an open secret that no one, including the Government, had any faith in these £35 scraps of paper. Think you’re doing the right thing in buying an expensive heat pump? Well, that could cause your EPC rating to fall. None of it made any sense.

Thankfully, in a major speech on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak gave homeowners a reprieve with landlords facing no such rules – for now at least. But we’re not safe yet. Labour’s lead in the polls and an election looming still means homeowners do not know how net zero will hit them in the pockets.

Net zero had threatened to become perhaps the biggest financial burden faced by families. Government policy was to force us into installing costly heat pumps, insulation and solar panels, as well as shelling out for expensive electric cars and charge points.

If you were unlucky enough to live in an older, badly insulated property, that was simply tough, you’d have to pay more to do your bit. The discontent around net zero targets and costly green politics had been bubbling away but reached boiling point when Labour was defeated in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election amidst outrage over Sadiq Khan’s Ulez expansion in London.

Now the Tories have realised that asking the public to foot the bill for net zero is not a vote-winner. The Prime Minister

‘An election looming still means homeowners do not know how net zero will hit them in the pockets’

has finally acknowledg­ed that these arbitrary deadlines were too soon and too harsh. He also admitted that the changes to net zero policy will likely save the average family up to £15,000.

Now no household or property owner will be forced to introduce energy efficiency improvemen­ts, and landlords will no longer face fines if they fail to upgrade their homes. Households are to be offered thousands of pounds more to install a heat pump, and the ban on new gas and oil boilers will be relaxed. The ban on new petrol and diesel cars was also delayed from 2030 to 2035. It was inevitable given the injustice and the significan­t burden on ordinary families. But for many, the damage has already been done. Homeowners have spent thousands in fear and anticipati­on of the new rules thrust upon them.

Landlords were forced to flee the market after arbitrary deadlines were thrust on them.

Net zero was a millstone around the necks of families, and it was made all the worse by rising taxes, a mortgage crisis and rampant inflation. The Tories have finally seen sense, but it’s taken the threat of electoral obliterati­on. Forgivenes­s will not come easily.

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