‘I spent £50k on net zero. I needn’t have bothered’

Property owners give Madeleine Ross and Alexa Phillips their views on Sunak’s green about-turn

The Daily Telegraph

Jonathan Rolande spent £50,000 upgrading his buy-to-let empire to comply with looming net zero rules. He began overhauling his properties after the Government announced plans to require all rental homes to meet minimum energy efficiency requirements by 2025.

Rolande, who owns more than 100 properties, is among homeowners and landlords who have spent thousands of pounds ahead of looming regulatory changes – only to find out crucial deadlines will now be scrapped after Rishi Sunak announced the watering down of a raft of flagship green initiatives.

The Prime Minister said minimum energy efficiency requirements for landlords and homeowners would be abandoned levels for properties, pointing to the costs of upgrading homes which is likely to be passed on as higher rents to tenants.

The ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will also be pushed back five years to 2035.

On top of this homeowners installing new boilers and heat pumps will be able to claim more in Government grants, up to £ 7,500, and a new exemption for the poorest households will mean they don’t need to switch at all. Sunak insisted the Government was still committed to net zero by 2050, but said he wanted to “bring the people with us”.

Rolande, 53, from Worthing in West Sussex, says the pushing back on incoming rules changes is welcome but that he is annoyed about spending money to meet rules that are now no longer going to be enforced. “From a business point of view, it’s money we’ve spent unnecessarily,” Rolande says.

‘Net zero forced me to sell up – and now they’re rowing back on the rules’ Michael Foster

Michael Foster plans to sell 10 properties

For some landlords, changes in regulations are coming too late and lack the level of reassurance needed to keep them from selling their homes. Michael Foster, 64, from Guildford in Surrey, has sold three properties in the past year and plans on selling most of his remaining portfolio of 10 properties. “With rising interest rates and regulations, there is a huge pressure on landlords just to get out,” he says. He adds that he was pushed to sell by the “uncertainty” over EPC regulations, combined with other growing red tape, tax changes and rate rises.

Chris Norris, policy director of the National Residential Landlords

Association, says many landlords have “invested heavily” to try and get ready for the changes. He adds that many have already sold inefficient rental properties to avoid the expense of incoming efficiency requirements.

The Government previously said it intended to force landlords to have

Energy Performance Certificate ratings of at least a C by 2025 for newly let properties, and by 2028 for existing lets.

Ben Thompson, of Mortgage Advice Bureau, says: “The UK has some of the oldest and least efficient homes in Europe, and backtracking won’t help solve the problem.”