Most rented homes in England and Wales must have an EPC rating of E or above, unless an exemption has been registered. The EPC is not just a document for the listing: it carries that legal minimum, and the consequences of getting it wrong land on you rather than on the tenant.
The minimum standard
Under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, most rented homes must reach band E or above. Below that, the property cannot be let unless a valid exemption has been registered. This applies to continuing tenancies, not only to new ones — a property that slipped through years ago is not grandfathered in.
A higher standard is on the way. In January 2026 the government decided that from 1 October 2030 every tenancy must meet the equivalent of EPC C, with a cap of £10,000 on what a landlord has to spend. It still needs Parliament’s approval, and until then the legal minimum stays at band E. EPC C by 2030 sets out what has been decided and what is still to come.
Exemptions are real, but they are not automatic
An exemption has to be registered on the PRS Exemptions Register to count. Believing you qualify is not the same as being exempt. The common grounds include the “all improvements made” case, where every relevant measure has been installed and the property still falls short, and the high-cost case, where the required work exceeds the cost cap.
Most exemptions last five years and do not transfer to a new owner, so a property bought with an exemption in place needs looking at again.
What actually happens at the visit
Thirty to forty-five minutes for a typical flat or house. I need access to every room, the loft hatch, the boiler and the meters. For a tenanted property, the access arrangement is usually the thing that determines how quickly this can happen rather than my diary.
All I need from you is that the tenant has been given a heads up about the visit, and that I know the access arrangements — who is letting me in, or where the keys are coming from.
The paperwork that changes the score
This is where landlords lose ratings unnecessarily. Where insulation or a heating upgrade cannot be seen or evidenced, the methodology requires the assessor to assume the worst reasonable case for that age and construction. A filled cavity with no paperwork counts as unfilled.
Before the visit, dig out anything you have: cavity wall insulation guarantees, loft insulation receipts, boiler installation certificates and service records, window installation paperwork, and any documentation for solar panels. On a property hovering around the E/F boundary this is frequently the difference between lettable and not.
If the rating is close to the line and you want to know what to do about it, I can add an Improvement Plan to the EPC for +£30: a written plan saying why the property scores what it does, which improvements would raise it and where to start. If you would rather know where you stand before anything is lodged, the plan is also available on its own, from £89, with nothing on the register. It is not an EPC, so it cannot be used to let the home or to show that it meets the minimum.
Licensing in East London
The band E minimum is national. On top of it, most East London boroughs now run their own landlord licensing, and the application usually asks for a current EPC — some councils go further:
- Newham asks for an EPC and the size of every room in square metres, and takes £50 off an accredited landlord’s fee when the home is rated C or above.
- Waltham Forest cuts the licence fee for a C, and further for an A or B.
- Redbridge says it will only license homes rated A to E.
- Havering takes £75 off for a C or above.
- Barking and Dagenham requires every landlord in the borough to hold a licence.
Each local page has the dates, the wards and a link to the council’s own page. Schemes change, so check with the council before you apply.
Portfolios
If you hold several properties in the same area, book them together. That means one visit rather than several, volume rates from five properties a month, and a single consolidated invoice with a per-property breakdown so your accountant can still see each one separately.
It is also worth staggering renewals deliberately. Certificates last ten years, and a portfolio bought at the same time tends to expire at the same time, which turns into an awkward month. Re-assessing a few early smooths that out. More on booking EPCs for rented homes.
Common questions I get from landlords
Does an EPC expire when the tenancy changes?
No. Ten years from lodgement, regardless of how many tenancies run in that time. If it runs out while a tenant is in place, see what to do when an EPC expires during a tenancy. The EPC expiry checker tells you when yours runs out.
Do I need one for a room in a shared house?
Generally the certificate covers the dwelling rather than the individual room. If your HMO arrangement is unusual, tell me the layout and I will tell you what is needed. The HMO guide has the detail, including the change the government has announced.
The property scored F. What now?
The certificate lists recommendations with the score impact of each. I will go through which ones are realistic for your building — on a lot of London flats the answer is heating controls and lighting rather than anything structural.
Where to go next
How the A to G bands work is worth ten minutes if you want to understand what you are being scored on. Improving a rating covers the measures that move the number for the least money. And what an EPC costs — including why, in England, the cost cannot be passed on to your tenant.
Sources for this guide: GOV.UK, minimum energy efficiency standard: landlord guidance (updated 5 May 2026), for band E, the PRS Exemptions Register and how long exemptions last; GOV.UK, Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes: government response (21 January 2026), for 2030; council licensing as set out, with its sources, on the Newham and Romford pages. GOV.UK pages checked 4 November 2026.