The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has urged the Government to reconsider the £3,500 cost cap on Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in the private rental sector.
The cost cap of £3,500 will come into force once the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations have been amended. At present we are unclear on when that will be. Our previous post on the announcement of the cost cap can be read here.
The main concern that the CIEH has with this cost cap is that they believe that it will exempt thousands of landlords from making rental properties warmer. The CIEH believes that the cost cap falls short of sector expectations on how much improvement works will actually cost and they are calling on the government to set the cap higher.
The concerns raised by the CIEH are in fact supported by the government’s own statistics which state that around 151,000 properties will not be brought up to a Band E within the cost cap of £3,500.
Comment
With these concerns in mind the CIEH is urging the government to raise the cap however, given the consultation on MEES is now closed this announcement is unlikely to influence the government at this stage.
