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EPC costs for landlords

Journalist: Tom Haynes, Daily Telegraph

ended 13. June 2025

Hello,

On Sunday the RdSAP 10 changes for EPC launch: https://energy-trust.co.uk/rdsap-10-major-changes/

Essentially, this will make assessments more thorough; however, it is also expected that the changes will make EPCs more expensive to obtain, since DEAs will have to spend more time on site, checking more things.

Prices can, of course, vary. But for a story, I am keen to get a sense of how these changes will affect portfolio landlords (or indeed homeowners who might want to sell in the near future). How much more might a property owner be expected to pay for a RdSAP 10 certificate? And how might that cost increase further once the Government introduces its Home Energy Model, which is set to replace EPCs as we know them? Is there a danger that, under the new criteria, homes that were EPC-C (and exempt from incoming restrictions on rental homes) might drop a grade?

Keen to hear your thoughts.

Best,

Tom.

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
This is yet another change impacting the rental sector and guess what.. it will be passed on by higher rents to the tenants as costs to landlords just further increase. There will be vast areas of the UK where an EPC C rated property will be unachievable now let alone under new assessment terms. Landlords really need to start taking action as the costs to implement with a falling workforce and soon to be captive audience will just increase further under supply and demand. Costs of property upgrades will just end up being passed on again because, guess what...landlords simply don't have the profits to keep funding this themselves with the constant rampage on the Private Rental Sector. We already have a housing crisis which will make this situation worse.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
Another day, another policy change that punishes landlords for providing housing. RdSAP 10 will make EPCs more expensive, more complex, and crucially, more unreliable. Assessors now need to measure every window, count every lightbulb, and log obscure ventilation data, all just to tell me what I already know: my property isn’t new, but it works. For portfolio landlords, this is death by a thousand clipboard checks. Costs will rise sharply, and worse still, homes that previously scraped a C rating could now drop to a D, dragging us into yet another regulatory penalty zone. And this is just the warm-up act before the even more chaotic Home Energy Model arrives. The real scandal is that none of this recognises the effort, investment, or realistic returns. EPCs have become a bureaucratic farce; an expensive, inconsistent barrier between landlords and tenants. This isn’t about energy. It is all about optics and ticking boxes for targets no one living in the real economy has a real say in.
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Sean Horton
Managing Director at Respect Mortgages
More fantastic new for landlords.

Currently, you're looking at around £60-120 for a standard EPC, depending on your area and the assessor.

With these RdSAP 10 changes requiring much more detailed on-site work - measuring every single window, counting light bulbs, detailed ventilation assessments - I'd expect that to jump to £150-250 easily.

The window measurements alone are crackers. Instead of just noting "typical double glazing," assessors now need to measure each window individually, record orientations, frame types, glazing gaps, ages, draught proofing - the lot.

That's going to make each assessment much longer, with the cost passed on to the landlord.