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'Green Panel' Updates Local Landlords

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Heat-Pump

  If you missed our 'Green Panel' at the last meeting, view the session in the members area here. A well attended event with a wide range of expert speakers.

 Speakers were:

  • Gavin Dick of the NRLA who articulated well the need for Local Authorities to step up and put plans in place to bring whole roads or local areas up to standard in one go, as many measures are not only much more expensive when applied one house at a time, but also, can be ineffective and can ruin the look of whole streets.
  • Andrea Bailey, our local EPC expert who also works as an Energy Advisor helping individual clients build plans to improve the performance of their properties
  • Christabel Watts of local charity, The Environment Centre.

                The government are proposing to increase the minimum EPC rating for renting a domestic property from E rating to C rating by 2025 for new tenancies and all tenancies by 2028. We wrote a blog post in April about what is next for MEES (Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards) which covers many of points I shared in the meeting: https://environmentcentre.com/whats-next-for-mees/

Portsmouth landlords and tenants can contact the Switched on Portsmouth advice line that we run on: 0800 260 5907 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.We can advise landlords on heating, insulation, energy housing standards and funding options for their properties. We can advise tenants on keeping warm and well, reducing energy bills and tackling condensation and mould in their home.

Thank you to all of your members who completed our feedback survey. Responses so far have indicated that energy efficiency is very much a concern for landlords, respondents moderately struggle to meet standards, nearly all are aware of MEES, most properties have EPCs of D or C rating, challenges are keeping up to date with changes, getting funding and technical or legal difficulties, the most common concern for tenants is condensation and mould, and the best way to get updates is landlord meetings and independent website and blogs. If you would still like to complete the survey and add to those responses, here is the link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8WSVXQZ

  • Dan Large, representing the Heat Pump Federation gave a great summary on all things 'heat pump'. More details and advice available here: https://www.hpf.org.uk/#advice

The event was well attended and there was much interest in all areas – it was obvious that for many, 'heat pumps' were a bit of a mystery, so we will probably need to revisit that area in a future event. But the lack of a pervasive local area plan, with district heating options, proposals to upgrade whole terraces as one and green finance that worked for the PRS and was available for more than a few months was probably the largest take-away from the session.

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About the author

Martin Silman

Martin began his landlord journey 18 years ago, while working in an international role for a global telecommunications company. Since retiring he has extended his portfolio, which he manages with his wife, but has always focussed on the ‘small student HMO’ sector preferring to offer homes in the community for small groups to the more common ‘pack them in and take the money’ mentality. He has chaired the PDPLA for the past 9 years and has overseen the Associations transition from small local self-help group to a much larger and more professional institution which is recognised and listened to nationally. Alongside his PDPLA role, he also has leadership roles in a number of other local organisations – bringing his unique perspective, driving for change and increased use of technology while respecting the history that brought us here.

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