How to improve an EPC rating on a rental property

Start with the EPC report, not a shopping list

gov.uk states that your EPC report includes a list of recommendations, both a short list of top actions and a longer detailed list of all recommended measures, and that these recommendations should drive which measure or combination you install (gov.uk). You can download your current certificate free on the find an energy certificate service. An EPC runs from A to G and is valid for 10 years (gov.uk), so the report on file may predate work you have already done.

Why installing off-list measures is a trap

gov.uk is explicit about this. You are free to install any energy efficiency measure, but if your chosen improvements do not appear in the list of recommended energy efficiency improvements and they fail to lift the property to EPC E, you will not be able to let the property or register an 'all relevant improvements made' exemption. You then have to make further attempts to reach E. In other words, spending £6,000 on something sensible that is not on the report can leave you legally no better off than spending nothing.

What the government's own sample table suggests

• The cheap wins are genuinely cheap. In gov.uk's sample table, hot water cylinder insulation is £15–£30 indicative for £142 a year of typical saving, and low energy lighting is £20 indicative. Both are worth doing before anything else.
• Insulation at roof level does the heavy lifting. Room-in-roof insulation shows the largest annual saving in the sample, £837, at £1,500–£2,700 indicative.
• Wall insulation is where the cap bites. £4,000–£14,000 indicative in the sample, comfortably above the £3,500 cost cap on its own.
• Order matters. The ratings after improvement in the sample are cumulative and assume installation in the order listed, so you cannot add up individual uplifts.

Funding changes the maths

gov.uk sets out three funding routes. If third-party funding covers the full cost of getting to E, the cost cap does not apply and you should use all of it to reach band E or higher. If third-party funding is under £3,500 and not enough on its own, you may need to top up with your own money to the value of the cap. If you self-fund, you never need to spend more than the cap. Funding sources listed include the Energy Company Obligation, local authority grants and Green Deal finance. Energy efficiency investment you made at the property since 1 October 2017 counts within the £3,500 cap, so dig out old invoices before assuming you have spent nothing.

This site covers domestic private rented property. Non-domestic property sits under a separate minimum energy efficiency standard with its own guidance and its own dates (gov.uk). The domestic regulations apply in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own private rented sector regimes, so check with the relevant administration if the property is there.