https://www.noxia.co.uk/field-notes/the-cap-goes-from-three-and-a-half-to-ten · printed from noxia.co.uk · sources checked 24 September 2026
Field note · Lettings
The spending cap on a rented home goes from £3,500 to £10,000.
A landlord who last looked at this saw EPC E and a £3,500 ceiling. The consultation proposed £15,000 and two deadlines. The government’s response in January settled on £10,000 and one date, 1 October 2030 — with a ten-year exemption for anybody who spends to the cap and still misses.
- Lettings
- Landlords
- EPC
- Energy efficiency
- Compliance
The short answer
In January 2026 the government decided that privately rented homes in England and Wales must meet a new standard by 1 October 2030: a C grade on the reformed EPC’s fabric metric, plus either smart readiness or heating system, at the landlord’s choice. Spending is capped at £10,000 a property — down from the £15,000 consulted on, against £3,500 today — with a ten-year exemption if the home still falls short. The expected average is £5,400. Parliament must still approve it.
On this page · 5 sections
The number that changes the arithmetic on a portfolio is not the standard. It is the cap.
Two readings of that chart are both correct and they point different ways. A landlord whose property needs £5,000 of work sees a real but survivable number. A landlord whose property needs £18,000 sees a £10,000 bill and then a ten-year exemption, which is a different kind of decision entirely — and the point at which some portfolios get sold rather than improved. The cap covers both metrics together, and the certificates you commission along the way count against it.
The second metric is the part nobody is discussing
The standard is not simply "EPC C". It is a C grade on the fabric performance metric, and then a secondary standard met through either a smart readiness metric or a heating system metric, with the landlord choosing which. The response says a landlord will in no circumstances be required to replace a working heating system with a heat pump to comply.
A choice is better than a mandate, and it is also a second compliance surface. A property can pass the fabric test and fail the second, and the cheapest route through the second will vary by property in ways no generic advice can settle.
Four things a landlord or agent can do now
- Find out what each property actually is, not what its last certificate said. Certificates age, assumptions change, and the reform of EPCs themselves means the metric is moving under the rating.
- Sort the portfolio by distance from the standard, not by rating. Two properties at D can be £2,000 and £20,000 apart in work, and the second is the one whose decision is strategic.
- Look at the early route. A home that can reach C on today’s rating, with the certificate lodged before 1 October 2029, is compliant until that certificate expires.
- Model the exemption honestly. Spending to a £10,000 cap and registering a ten-year exemption is a legitimate outcome, but it is a £10,000 outcome — not a way of avoiding the spend.
What this does not tell you
It is a decision, not yet law. The response says the changes “will be subject to Parliamentary approval”, and the new EPC metrics it depends on are still being introduced. Anyone quoting you the final wording of the regulations is ahead of the evidence.
It also does not tell you what a specific property needs, which depends on its construction, its heating and its exposure, and is a surveyor's question rather than ours.
What is knowable now is the shape of the decision, and it lands in the same period as everything else on a landlord's calendar — the Renters' Rights Act converting every tenancy on one day, four quarterly tax updates on top of the return, and AML supervision reaching lettings. That clustering is the actual problem for an agency, and the clocks note is where we counted them. The work we do with agencies starts from that calendar.
Questions people actually ask
What EPC rating will rented homes need?
Not a simple rating. By 1 October 2030 a privately rented home must reach a C grade on the fabric performance metric of the reformed EPC, and then a secondary standard on either a smart readiness metric or a heating system metric, with the landlord choosing which. A home rated C on today’s energy efficiency rating in an EPC lodged before 1 October 2029 counts as compliant until that certificate expires.
When do the new rules apply?
The government’s response of 21 January 2026 set a single date, 1 October 2030, for every private tenancy, dropping the 2028 date for new tenancies that the consultation had proposed. Until then the current EPC E standard applies. The changes are subject to Parliament’s approval.
How much would a landlord have to spend?
At most £10,000 per property, across both metrics and including the certificates needed along the way, against £3,500 under the current EPC E standard. The consultation had proposed £15,000. The government’s impact assessment expects an average spend of £5,400. Where a home still falls short after £10,000, a ten-year exemption can be registered.
Is this already law?
Not yet. The government has decided the policy, and its response says the changes will be subject to Parliamentary approval. The new EPC metrics it relies on are also still being introduced, so treat anyone quoting the regulations’ final wording with caution.
Sources
- GOV.UK, “Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes: government response”, 21 January 2026: “The legislative changes set out in this document will be subject to Parliamentary approval.” A primary standard against the fabric performance metric on new EPCs and a secondary standard against either the smart readiness or the heating system metric, at the landlord’s discretion; landlords “in no circumstances required to replace working heating systems with heat pumps”; “government will proceed with raising the maximum spend required of landlords to meet the standard to £10,000 per property, rather than the option of £15,000 proposed in the consultation”, covering both metrics, with the cost of EPCs counting towards the cap and a 10-year exemption if the standard is not met; an estimated average spend of £5,400; “Instead of the phased implementation approach proposed in the consultation, government will proceed with a single compliance date of 1 October 2030”; homes graded C or above against the Energy Efficiency Rating on EPCs before 1 October 2029 compliant until the EPC expires. gov.uk ↗ — primary; the government’s decision on its own consultation. Not yet law re-checked every 6 months
- GOV.UK, “Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes: consultation document”, 2025 — the proposal the response settled: a fabric standard and a secondary standard, new tenancies from 2028 and all tenancies by 2030, and a cap under which the government “is minded to require landlords to invest a maximum of £15,000 inclusive of VAT per property”, with average costs of £6,100–£6,800; the current standard is EPC E with a maximum required investment of £3,500. gov.uk ↗ — primary; the consultation, superseded by the response above
- The reading that the early route through an old-style C may be the cheapest for a home already near it, and the four things to do, are ours. — our own argument, labelled as such. Not advice on a specific property
Checked 24 September 2026. Next scheduled check 23 March 2027. Numbers that move — leaderboards, live indices — are re-checked every 30 days; annual datasets and rules in force every six months; dated research once a year. If something here has gone stale before we got to it, tell us and we will correct it and say what changed.
Cite this note
Noxia, “The spending cap on a rented home goes from £3,500 to £10,000”, Field notes, 23 September 2026; sources checked 24 September 2026. https://www.noxia.co.uk/field-notes/the-cap-goes-from-three-and-a-half-to-ten
Sort the portfolio by distance from the standard, not by rating.
Two properties at the same rating can be twenty thousand pounds apart in work, and the rating will not tell you which is which. We build the view that does — every property, its current position, and the gap — so the strategic decisions get made early and the cheap ones get made without a meeting.
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