Agenda item

To recommend to Committee the adoption of a policy with regard to the implementation and enforcement of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) in accordance with the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015.

The Housing Renewal Manager introduced the report and explained about the MEES regulations history. She informed the Committee that on the 1 April 2020 it had become a legal requirement for private rented landlords to have an EPC certificate above E in order to legally rent the dwelling. There were some exemptions to this however, landlords were required to make a legal claim in order to register their exemption. She further explained that the government had created a fund in order to support Councils with the enforcement of the regulations. SDC and GCC were successful in their joint bid for funding and secured 80k which enabled them to hire a full time member of staff for 6 months and to set up the systems and processes for the project.

The Housing Renewal Manager informed the Committee that all the preparation work had now been completed and most landlords identified had been sent an initial letter. The process involved sending a second letter if there had been no contact after the first letter was sent and then finally the enforcement phase.

The Housing Renewal Manager gave the following answers in response to questions from Councillors:

• The funding was only available until March 2022 and it went towards setting up the processes and systems in order to begin the enforcement work, a data mining company and for a full time member of staff for 6 months to complete the work and train additional Officers in the process.
• Once the funding had ended SDC would not have the resources available to identify landlords however they were hoping to pick up cases as part of their day to day work.

Councillor Schoemaker questioned how to get funding so that the work could be continued as it would support the councils 2030 Carbon Neutral pledge. The Housing Renewal Manager confirmed that this would need to be done as part of the budget setting process.

The Housing Renewal Manager confirmed a lot of the identified properties in Stroud would likely fall under one of the exemptions however, this data would then be collected and could be looked at in the future if needed.

Councillor Baker asked how they had become aware of the properties. The Housing Renewal Manager confirmed it involved manually looking for them which was why some of the funding went towards data sifting for a company to narrow down the list of properties and identify which ones needed to be contacted.

Councillor Patrick raised concerns with the EPC certificate as they were valid for 5 years regardless of changes in the property. The Housing Renewal Manager explained SDC had no authority over the exemptions they could only work with the information they had been given. She further explained that a lot of the work involved raising awareness of possible funding available to private sector landlords and providing examples of the benefits to completing the works. This was why they had received such positive feedback already.

In response to Councillor Jockel, The Housing Renewal Manager confirmed:

• They had identified around 200 landlords already who had all now received their first letter.
• They didn’t have the resources to be able to model some cost examples for landlords however, there was a separate piece of work ongoing from the better care funding to carry out a private sector stock condition survey which would create similar data for landlords to view, this was due later in 2022.

In response to Councillor Hynd, the Housing Renewal Manager confirmed that there was a database of local contractors who would carry out these types of works and they had been given some funding through the Sustainable Warmth Bid in order to update that database.

Councillor Hynd proposed and Councillor Schoemaker seconded.

Councillors Schoemaker, Jockel and Hynd all expressed their support for the report.

After being put to a Vote, the motion was carried unanimously.