It is now less than 6 months to go until the “Green Deal” launch which is set to revolutionise the energy efficiency of all UK homes and businesses.  The Green Deal stems from the Energy Act 2011 and is designed to enable private firms to offer consumers energy efficiency improvements.  The benefit to consumers and businesses is that there will be no upfront costs and it will result in cheaper warmer buildings and will make them more marketable to tenants.  The cost of the improvements will be recouped through a charge added to the end-user’s energy bill.

It is therefore recommended that consumers and businesses start to think about making energy efficiency savings, otherwise they risk not being able to let out a property that is not compliant or having to carry out costly improvements in tight timescales.

The Green Deal provides that from April 2016 private residential landlords will be unable to refuse a tenant’s reasonable request to consent to energy efficiency improvements where a finance package is available. It also states that by April 2018, it will be unlawful to rent out residential or business premises which do not reach a minimum energy efficiency standard (it is likely that the minimum rating will be “E”).  It is therefore recommended taking advice early when obtaining an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

How does it work?

Energy companies will become “green deal providers” and will employ qualified assessors. A property will be inspected by an assessor and energy efficiency improvements recommended. The green deal provider will then provide an estimate of the savings on the energy bill if the works were carried out and offer to carry out the works based upon instalments added to the energy bill.

The instalments will be paid by “the person who is for the time being liable to pay the energy bills for the property” and “will be made to the relevant energy supplier through the energy bills for the property”.   As tenants are in most cases the bill payer, it will be tenants who pay the instalments by way of their energy bill.  Tenants will need to be aware when they are taking on a lease of a property if it is subject to the Green Deal.

It is thought that in the future EPC’s will disclose all Green Deal arrangements as part of the Government’s plans to allow disclosure of information held on the national register of all EPC’s throughout the UK.  As a result of the database requirements the cost of obtaining EPC’s is increasing.

In summary, energy efficiency is not going to go away.  It is a flagship policy for the Government and it is recommended that both tenants and landlord’s take advice early on EPC’s and the Green Deal in order to reap the benefits.

For further information, please contact Caren Glennie by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..