Current Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) requirements for landlords
The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) regulations, introduced in 2015, aim to raise the energy efficiency, comfort, and overall quality of privately rented homes and commercial properties in England and Wales.
Under MEES, landlords must ensure their properties meet a minimum EPC rating before they can be legally rented out.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) contains information about a property’s energy efficiency, including a rating on a scale from A-G.
In the UK, an EPC is legally required whenever a property is built, sold, rented, or undergoes significant alterations, unless an exemption applies. It remains valid for ten years and must be made available to prospective buyers or tenants. The regulations require a rental property to have a minimum EPC rating in certain parts of the UK.
Landlords who fail to meet the EPC rating requirements could face enforcement action and be fined.
EPC minimum ratings could change
A recent consultation exercise looking at the regulations covering the minimum energy efficiency standards for rental properties in England and Wales closed in May 2025.
It’s a wide ranging consultation, but one proposal is to change the minimum EPC rating for a rental property in England and Wales to C (from and it is currently a minimum of an E rating).
Consultation on the energy performance of buildings regime and proposals which impact EPCs
The consultation applies to England and Wales only and the results have not yet been published. If any of the proposals are adopted in the future they could impact landlords. There is a link here.
The consultation is wide ranging, and this is not intended to be a summary or an overview of it, however to give a flavour of the scope of the consultation, it includes proposed changes to EPCs including:
- using multiple metrics to measure EPCs;
- a change to the validity period of EPCs;
- a proposed EPC methodology for the Home Energy Model;
- a proposed extension to require EPCs for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs); and;
- a proposal to increase the penalties for a beach of the application legislation, amongst other changes.
Support for landlords
As any future changes to EPC rules may affect your property investment strategy, it’s important to know what your current obligations are and to be aware of any potential changes to consider how they may affect you.
More information about EPCs
You can search for a property’s energy performance certificate by using the government’s website. You will need the postcode, street name or town and house number for the property that you are checking.
An EPC is produced by a qualified Energy Assessor who will visit the property and make their assessment of the property. The cost of an Energy Assessor can vary widely depending on location, so it is worth shopping around when you look for one.
Each EPC is valid for ten years unless major renovation work is carried out on the property. Property owners can also choose to get an updated EPC if they have installed energy efficiency measures – particularly if these improve the energy rating. If a newer EPC has been produced for a home within the ten-year period, only the most recent one is valid.
There are a number of ways to potentially make a property more efficient, and these will be reflected in recommendations captured by the Energy Assessor after they conduct their assessment of the property. These could include upgraded insulation, smart heating controls, LED lighting, double glazing, a more efficient boiler or heat pump.
For more information on energy efficiency, you could try visiting the Energy Savings Trust website for helpful advice and tips.
Support is currently available to landlords to help improve their properties.
An eligibility tool is available at the gov.uk website in the Find ways to save energy in your home page.
Find the EPC for a property
Use the government’s website and search by postcode, street name or town and house number.
Search nowMake your property more energy efficient
Visit the Energy Savings Trust website for hints and tips about making better energy choices.
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