News round up

Government energy efficiency plans doomed to failure warn landlords

In a recent press release, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) took the government to task for what it perceives as a lack of clarity about its energy efficiency standards.

The landlords’ pressure group reminds readers that two years have elapsed since the end of the official consultation process to discuss the government’s plans for imposing stricter energy efficiency targets within the private rented sector – with milestone dates for the introduction of new targets arising in 2025 and again in 2028.

According to the official targets currently set out by the government, in 2025 all new tenancies granted by private sector landlords must be for property that has achieved a minimum C-rated Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

By 2028, it is the current intention to extend those standards to all tenancies including existing tenancies.

A lack of clarity and continued consultation with private sector landlords about the implementation of these targets means that any chance of government success in achieving its goals is doomed to failure or “dead in the water”, says the NRLA

UK property market weakest since 2010 as uncertainty weighs: RICS

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) adopted a pessimistic stance on prospects for the UK property market according to a story by Reuters recently

Noting a slump in December’s average house prices – the biggest such fall since October 2010 – RICS predicted a sharper than expected decline in a housing market marked by steadily rising borrowing costs and uncertainty about the extent of any recession in the year ahead.

RICS noted that house prices have been falling across the whole of the UK, but that East Anglia and the Southeast of England in particular had seen the biggest drop in prices.