More local authorities supported through the PRS MEES Compliance and Enforcement Competition

Since April 2020 privately rented homes in England and Wales are required to meet the minimum energy efficiency standard of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band E before they can be let, unless a valid exemption is in place. These requirements are set out in The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 (‘the PRS Regulations’).  Each local authority is the enforcement authority for their area.

The Private Rented Sector (PRS) Domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) Compliance and Enforcement Competition supports local authorities to raise awareness of the PRS Regulations to both landlords and tenants as well as building capacity to tackle the identification of non-compliant landlords. The funding can also be used to support local authorities to create processes to enforce the PRS Regulations.

The second round of the PRS MEES competition will see a further 26 local authorities receive funding to improve the energy efficiency standards of domestic properties in the private rented sector. This iteration builds on the success of the previous scheme, which saw 59 local authorities supported.

Through improving the quality of housing stock, the whole project looks to target over 95,000 of the worst-performing private rented homes with the ultimate aim of tackling fuel poverty and reducing carbon emissions produced by the domestic housing sector.