Buy To Let Properties May Be Getting Greener

With many households using more gas and electricity than they need to, under the Government Green Deal you will be able to make your home or business premise more energy efficient and pay for the work from the savings on your energy bill. This will apply to buy to let properties as well as owned homes.

A quarter of a home’s heat can be lost through a loft and up to a third through walls.

As energy prices continue to rise householders need to take action to ensure their homes are as energy as efficient as possible – too many are poorly insulated, appliances are left on standby, and thermostats are used inefficiently, meaning more is being spent on gas and electricity than is needed to be.

Under the Government’s Green Deal, people who rent their flat or house will be able to ask their landlord to improve loft and wall insulation and landlords will be encouraged to take advantage of up-front financing to make their properties more energy efficient.

It is worth noting that for those landlords who don’t comply, the Government has indicated it may introduce regulations to force landlords to improve their properties by 2015.

The Government is seeking that all properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of F or G to be improved beyond that grading. This may be a significant challenge for older properties.

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has put together the following simple tips on how to help make your property more energy efficient:

• Cavity wall and floor insulation: This can often be a disruptive process, but effective insulation will represent a significant step towards improving the energy efficiency of your property.
• Ensure you have effective loft insulation: Although many properties now have loft insulation installed, check the depth and quality. The recommended thickness is between 250-300mm for optimum energy efficiency.
• Insulate your water fittings: ARLA recommends that lagging should be installed around water pipes and boilers to minimise heat loss. As many will have experienced this winter, water pipes are also prone to freezing, so insulation should help to prevent this.
• Prevent draughts: Landlords should seek to block draughts in various parts of their properties, through draught proofing doors and windows, as well as reducing heat loss through floorboards.
• Install a thermostat on your boiler: Thermostats ensure that when a room reaches its optimum temperature of around 19°C, the heating is automatically switched off, thus reducing heating bills.
• Communicating with tenants: Effective communication between landlords and tenants can ensure that tenants are aware of the importance of energy efficiency, and take their own simple steps to reducing heating costs.

In addition, as Ian Potter, Operations Manager of ARLA, comments: “Landlords can already take advantage of a tax allowance of up to £1,500 for these energy efficiency improvements through the Landlord’s Energy Saving Allowance (LESA).