Green Deal: a new opportunity for landlords

The National Landlords’ Association (NLA) has welcomed the Government’s “Green Deal”, details of which were announced by the Department for Energy and Climate Change yesterday.

Legislation to establish the scheme will be introduced into Parliament next month and according to Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Huhne, “thousands of new insulation workers will soon be hitting Britain’s streets as part of a national effort to make people’s homes warmer and cheaper to run”.

The cost of work to upgrade properties will be paid back from the savings on energy bills and the Deal involves a three-step process as follows:

Step 1 – an independent energy survey.

Step 2 – Green Deal finance to be provided by a range of accredited providers, which will be repaid through savings on energy bills.

Step 3 – Homes and businesses will then receive their energy efficiency package, with only accredited measures installed by appropriately-qualified installers.

Landlords will not face any upfront costs when improving their properties and new legislation will create powers allowing any tenant asking for reasonable energy-efficiency improvements to receive them, from 2015 onwards.

Local authorities will be empowered to insist that landlords improve the worst-performing homes.

Commenting on the scheme, NLA chairman, David Salusbury, says: “The Green Deal proposals represent a new opportunity for landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their properties, reduce their tenants’ utility bills and play their part in tackling climate change.”

He adds: “We look forward to working with the Department for Energy and Climate Change over the coming months to ensure the Green Deal encourages and assists landlords in improving the energy efficiency of their properties.”