First national Green Deal service for landlords confirmed

The Residential Landlords Association has recently announced a Green Deal Service which is to be managed by Enact Energy and will offer free and grant funded insulation and heating works under the Energy Company Obligation.

Greg Barker, Climate Change Minister welcomed the scheme saying: “I am delighted to see the Residential Landlords Association take this approach. The private rented sector has some of the least energy efficient housing in the UK and this new service from the RLA will not only help to tackle that but will also help tenants to live in warmer homes.” Chairman of the RLA, Alan Ward continued:

“The Green Deal offers landlords a significant opportunity to improve the energy efficiency and in some cases the appearance of their property, with the added benefit of grant funding and long-term finance. The legislation and processes can however be complicated and we believe that there is a requirement for a service which understands the unique needs of both our landlord members and their tenants which led us to launch this new service. We can offer landlords a complete service from initial property assessment through to installation of the upgrades, with access to grant funding and Green Deal finance all under one roof.” “The RLA Green Deal service will be open to non-members, although only members will be entitled to discounts and offers worth far more than the £75 it would cost to sign up. We aim to be the major service for Green Deal and ECO for the private rental sector and are planning to help up to 10,000 landlords to upgrade their properties over the next five years.” The Green Deal imposes strict rules on Landlords wanting to carry out energy savings measures through a Green Deal loan. The scheme requires the written permission of the tenant or requires the landlord to carry out the works when the property is vacant.

The Government has also announced a cash fund of £125 million available to households and private landlords who make Green Deal improvements in January by way of a £1,000 incentive to them on a “first come, first served” basis.