Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what sanctions her Department has introduced for landlords that do not lift their properties out of (a) G and (b) F energy ratings after receiving funding from the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard.

The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015 require that, since April 2018, domestic and non-domestic private landlords ensure their properties have an energy efficiency rating of at least an E at the point at which they issue a new tenancy, or renew or extend an existing one.

While landlords are free to explore third-party funding options, such as local authority grants, no specific funding is available to help them meet their legal obligations, and landlords are expected to draw on their own funds to finance improvements, subject to a number of cost-effectiveness tests. The regulations set separate cost-effectiveness test for landlords of domestic and non-domestic property.

The regulations give enforcement powers to local authorities in respect of the domestic provisions, and to local weights and measures authorities in respect of the non-domestic provisions. Enforcement authorities have a range of penalty options for tacking non-compliance, up to and including the issuing of financial penalties. For domestic property, financial penalties are capped at £5,000 per breach; for non-domestic property, financial penalties are capped at £150,000 per breach.