More than 40% of assessed homes below EPC C with work due to cost landlords £9.9 billion
12:00 AM, 27th August 2026, 4 days ago
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40.2% of homes assessed in England and Wales in the year to June 2026 were below EPC band C. The government estimates the cost to landlords of getting privately rented homes up to band C by 2030 will be £9.9 billion. The average expected cost per property is £5,387, capped at £10,000.
We split the latest MHCLG figures by all 317 local authorities and by region, and put them on a map so you can see the situation in your area:
https://vantage.rent/research/epc-below-band-c
The East Midlands is the worst region: 45.5% of homes assessed there were below a C rating. South West 44.4%. West Midlands and Yorkshire both 43.9%. Wales 42.2%. London is at 34.3%. The North East is at 34.1%.
At the district level, it gets even worse. Tandridge is at 63.5%. Westmorland and Furness 62.2%. North Norfolk 61.2%. Gwynedd 58.8%. A string of rural and coastal councils sit above 50%: Cornwall, East Lindsey, King’s Lynn, Carmarthenshire, South Hams. This is older, solid-walled, hard-to-heat stock, and a lot of it is in places with thin contractor markets, where the £10,000 cap will not stretch as far.
With net rental yields having fallen by 50 – 70% over the last decade, can landlords be reasonably expected to swallow this additional cost? For many, it’s the necessary lesser of two evils: the penalty for letting a non-compliant property is up to £30,000. For others, it could be the final straw.
With the next quarterly data update due in late October, it will be interesting to see how the picture develops.
