The Scottish government has backtracked on plans to force the private rented sector to meet energy efficiency deadlines by 2025.

These would have required PRS properties to achieve an EPC rating of C at the change of tenancy from 2025, with all properties having to reach the same standard by 2028 – but this proposal has been dropped.

Scottish ministers have been planning the introduction of a minimum energy efficiency standard for more than a decade but dates have changed several times. Unlike England, there is currently no minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) requirement for PRS properties.

2028 deadline

However, as part of a draft bill containing the powers to create a new Heat in Buildings Standard, it has announced that all private landlords will need to meet a C rating by the end of 2028, while owner occupiers will need to meet the same standard by the end of 2033. By the end of 2045, all building owners will need to have ended their use of polluting heating.

Landlords in England now have no such target following the UK government’s recent U-turn on EPC targets.

In a consultation document - Delivering Net Zero for Scotland’s Buildings - it explains it wants to see tenants having warmer homes that are easier and less expensive to heat as part of its obligation to address fuel poverty.

“We believe that establishing this standard in this way protects and is very much in the interests of tenants, while also enhancing the quality of the asset for the landlord. We are aware of the important role privately rented homes play as part of Scotland’s housing stock, and the wider pressures on this sector," the document says.

The government is inviting views which can be submitted online here by 8th March.

Picture credit: Shutterstock/achinthamb