Buy-to-let investors face £500m in fines

Landlords will be staring at fines totalling £500m if they fail to provide tenants with domestic energy performance certificates (EPCs) from October.

That is the warning from the National Landlords Association (NLA), which has told buy-to-let landlords they will be in for a nasty shock if they fail to meet their statutory obligation.

The landlords’ association which today launched its own EPC service to provide landlords with certificates. David Salusbury, Chairman, NLA said landlords were sorting out their power hungry properties already, but warned landlords they couldn't ignore the legislation.

“Many landlords across the country are already investing in energy saving measures in response to a growing market demand for environmentally-friendly properties,” he said. “Although it’s certainly true that we would have preferred the market to have led this movement towards more energy efficient homes, the NLA, as always, is seeking to make it as easy as possible for landlords to comply with the new rules.”

In 2007, the private rental sector accounted for 3m homes, according to Mintel. Each one of these home is liable for a fine of £200 if it does not have an EPC attached.

An EPC is currently valid for 10 years and can be reused as many times as required within that period.

Landlords do not have to commission a new EPC each time a new tenancy starts but they are required to give a copy of the latest EPC to new tenants.