Another week and another Newsround with no shortage of housing news this week.
Proposed EPC changes announced
This week the government has announced that the deadline for rented properties to be at a minimum EPC C level has now been moved to 1st October 2030.
This will apply to both existing tenancies and new ones, aligning the two together, with low-interest loans being made available.
This is in line with the Warm Homes Plan announced this week. The focus will be foremost on insulation and improved windows to increase energy efficiency.
The cap on spending will now be £10,000 (previously it was £15000) per property, and for properties valued at under £100,000, this figure will be pro-rata down. Any improvements made since October 2025 can also be included and put against this figure.
Landlords need to keep abreast of licensing scheme renewals
Landlords need to be very aware and ready to act when a licensing scheme that they fall under expires. Whilst these schemes generally run for 5 years, when they do expire, there are often differing rules and processes of renewal from council to council.
Automatic renewal does not happen, and this could leave landlords that were once compliant, to be non-compliant and at risk of severe enforcement action.
There are usually three options open to councils when a scheme lapses. To allow the scheme to expire, to renew the scheme or to redesignate new boundaries and rules. Fees are also generally increased. Conditions such as fire safety, management requirements or even different reporting duties can change. Therefore, reliance on existing licensing terms should not be assumed.
Generally, a new application has to be submitted and approved.
This can cause additional issues when landlords have properties in different local authority areas that operate their schemes very differently. Some organisations are calling for local authorities to engage more with landlords, but the onus is still very much on the landlord keep up with licensing obligations in their area.
Pressure on government to be ‘court ready’
Government stats out this week state that it now takes 34 weeks from a landlord making a possession claim to the courts and the property actually being repossessed. This is the highest level in four years.
Ben Beadle of the NRLA has written to the Justice Select Committee asking them to define what ‘court ready’ actually means and how prepared the courts are in handling an increase in possession cases.
He says
The government has yet to define what it means by the courts being “ready”. Without that clarity, it is unclear what the planned digitisation of possession cases is intended to deliver or how success will be measured.
With the first details of the digital platform due to be released in late spring 2026, Ben Beadle claims that no one knows yet what this will look like or how much it will speed up claims.
Furthermore, the government states that it will intervene if the Tribunal system becomes overloaded, but there is no detail on how this will happen. He is calling on the government to provide clearer information on how the courts will be ready for the new system.
Council under huge strain of managing their HMO’s
A council that has had its license applications rise from 33 in 2022 to 115 applications this year alone is struggling to keep up with its licensing system. Complaints have quadrupled where illegal HMO’s are concerned, and Spelthorne Council is struggling to keep pace with the HMO growth and is ‘fire fighting with no strategy’ according to one councillor.
The council has employed two contractors to deal with the backlog of complaints, and they have applied for extra funding from the government, including £100,000 for HMO enforcement. Which doesn’t bode well with the changes to council enforcement with the Renters’ Rights Act.
Complaint issues range from anti-social behaviour, parking issues, overcrowded streets, and ‘sheer density’ of HMO properties.
This is grim reading. Let us hope that this is an exception rather than the rule. The council is putting in place Article 4 Directions from March 2026 so that conversions to HMO’s will need planning permission.
The spotlight will very much be on councils from now on, and in this article here we read that the government is going to be collecting mandatory enforcement data of the PRS from local housing authorities, which will include the number of full-time staff responsible for enforcement.
Snippets
Beware ploys to avoid Renters’ Rights Act, landlords warned
London tenants threaten legal action over excessive heat in flats
Short term let landlord win EPX exemption
Regulator of Social Housing slams councils for failings
Landlords using AI cause tribunal hearing headaches
See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law
Newsround will be back again next week
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