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After much consultation and deliberation with their legal officers, Communities and Local Government has published guidance for landlords on the requirements to provide Energy Performance Certificates for new lets from 1 October in the social and private rented sectors.  This guidance, which is intended to be comprehensive and includes FAQs, legal framework and definitions appendices, was originally intended to be published in April.  The CLG guidance is available here.

Whilst Government intentions were originally that EPC requirements would apply to all new lets after 1 October, the position is now that EPC requirements in the social and private rented sectors will only apply to self-contained dwellings which are let.

Important messages for landlords about renting rooms
According to CLG’s legal advice, renting “a room” does not meet the “part of a building” definition and accordingly an EPC is not required where a landlord lets

• A single room, or
• A suite, cluster or group of rooms

which do not form a self-contained house or flat ie a building or part of a building occupied or intended to be occupied as a separate self-contained dwelling.

In practical terms, this means that landlords will not need to provide EPCs for new lets (after 1 October) of a room or rooms in

• A bedsit/ bedsit HMO
• A shared house (let on multiple tenancies)
• A hall of residence
• A boarding house
• A residential home
• A hostel
• An hotel

Enforcement and what to do now
Trading Standards Services will be responsible for enforcing the new requirements.  Private Sector Housing Teams should, in conjunction with TSS officers, be gearing-up for implementation on 1 October this year.  Importantly, landlords need to understand clearly:

• The need to act now, in advance of any October rush for EPCs
• The rationale behind the requirements – the benefits for them, their tenants and the environment of providing energy-efficient homes
• Which of their properties will require an EPC when let