UK Landlord Forum / Life

The house I'm purchasing as a BTL has a energy rating of 68 with a potential of 80 and environmental impact of 64 with potential of 77. So in each case it's a jump to the next band.

My question is whether it is worth carrying out some of the recommendations to improve the rating from a rental point of view. Will tenants be attracted to a home with better values and hence lower running costs?

The things that were flagged as fairly low cost work were increasing the loft insulation, putting in low energy light bulbs, adding a thermostat to the hot water tank, putting a room thermostat and thermostatic valves on the radiators, putting in a condensing boiler (I'd only do this if the gas guy thinks the current one is past it's best).

I dont think it matters THAT much to possible tenants, as long as the rating isnt terrible and the house is clean and modern.

I would do the small things though, like putting in the energy saving light bulbs like you mentioned and maybe at a push increasing the loft insulation if the thickness of it isnt great, seeing as its pretty cheap.
But other than that, I dont think spending any more money would attract tenants.Well except for the boiler, but I wouldnt do it just to improve the rating, if the boiler was old ( one with a water tank and all that marlarkie) I would replace it.

On another note, would it not cost you money to get another Energy Performance Certificate? Just so the energy and enviro ratings look abit better, and is it a dead cert that they will look that better on paper because the ratings tend to be quite vague, so the ratings might not go up as much as you'd think. Which would be annoying.

I agree with Feefee.

I don't think it's worth spending that much time or effort on improving the EPC if it isn't that bad. As long as the property has good insulation and double glzed windows, i think most tenants would be happy with that.

In all fairness, I've not had ONE tenant even ask for a EPC 

A condensing boiler will improve economy over time as well as TRV's. Low energy light bulbs are a good idea but they are, at the moment, subject to quite a lot of controversy regarding health. They apparently give some people major migraines/skin disorders.

Wonder how long it will be before some litigious tenant sues a landlord for using these bulbs!

If you have students or vunerable folks in there should be grants of upto £1500 available for upgrades. You will need to do some searching but there are some companies who will help you.

To me, EPC's are just an additional tax.

Hope this helps

Jools

Thanks for the comments. I think I'll just stick with things the way they are for the moment then. The boiler is the only question mark at the moment. I'll get it checked out as it's about 15 years old and still uses the hot water tank in a cupboard system.

Quote from: Jools on February 17, 2009, 08:39:43 PM
Low energy light bulbs are a good idea but they are, at the moment, subject to quite a lot of controversy regarding health. They apparently give some people major migraines/skin disorders.

I've never heard of light causing skin disorders before. I'll do some research.

There was some argument on the radio recently about it. can't remember when though - probably Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 but there have been cases of epilepsy and strange skin irritations due to the way the light is produced and it's possible increase of UV? Also something to do with the way the gas is stimulated to produce the light.

Woul dbe interested to hear about your findings.

Jools