Landlord Duties on Energy, Heating and Home Safety

A landlord in the UK does not simply hand over keys. The law requires a working, safe and reasonably energy-efficient home, and the duties sit with the owner even when a letting agent manages the day-to-day. The core requirements are consistent across the four nations: heating and hot water must work, an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) must exist before a property is marketed for rent, and in England and Wales a property rated F or G cannot lawfully be let until it reaches at least band E¹. Since 1 October 2022, landlords in England must also provide a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance, excluding gas cookers¹.

The EPC is the anchor of the energy duties. Provision of a certificate has been a statutory requirement whenever a property is bought, sold or rented since 2007, and it must be given free of charge to prospective tenants at the earliest opportunity³. The certificate rates the property's energy efficiency, names its heating source and gives estimated carbon emissions and energy costs, which lets tenants compare homes before signing⁵.

This page sets out each duty in turn: what a landlord must provide on heating and energy, how the EPC system works, the minimum rating rules, the exemptions, the penalties, and where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differ from England.

Heating, hot water and the basics a landlord must provide

The starting point is simple: a rented home must have working heating, and the landlord must keep it working. Health and Safety Executive guidance states that if a heating appliance has been disconnected, the landlord must provide emergency heating¹. That duty does not wait for a convenient moment or a planned replacement; a disconnected boiler or fire leaves a home without heat and the landlord must fill the gap.

Alongside heating sit the safety duties, which can be grouped as follows:

• Electrical safety: electrical safety standards must be met throughout any period when the premises are occupied under a specified tenancy⁸.
• Carbon monoxide (England): since 1 October 2022, all relevant landlords must provide a CO alarm in any room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance, with gas cookers excluded¹.
• Heat network and service charge arrangements: where heating is supplied through a heat network or a service charge rather than a direct supply contract, the arrangement may fall under a lease, tenancy agreement or service charge agreement, which changes who a tenant complains to when things go wrong¹.

These duties are described in more detail on our pages about landlord electrical safety checks and alarm rules in rented homes.

For a tenant, the significance is that the fabric of the home's warmth is not their responsibility. The energy supplier is responsible for providing energy to homes, but everything from the meter onwards inside the home, the boiler, the wiring, the appliances fixed in place, is the landlord's to keep safe and functional.

The certificate every rental needs

An Energy Performance Certificate is required whenever a property is built, or marketed for sale or rent⁵. Provision of an EPC has been a statutory requirement whenever a property is bought, sold or rented since it was introduced in 2007³. When a property is being rented, it is the landlord's responsibility to provide the EPC to the potential tenant⁹.

The timing is set out in legislation, not left to custom. The relevant person must make available, free of charge, a valid EPC to any prospective buyer or tenant at the earliest opportunity, and no later than when written information about the property is first provided or the building is viewed⁴. In Scotland, the certificate must be available for issue to all prospective tenants and must be provided to a new tenant free of charge¹⁰. A copy goes to the successful tenant at no cost⁹.

The scope covers more than standard lets, and the rules on who is responsible differ by letting type:

The minimum rating: band E, and what F and G mean

Since 2018, domestic private rented property in England and Wales has been subject to a Minimum Level of Energy Efficiency standard¹¹. The rule is that a property rated F or G must be improved to at least an E before it can be rented out². A landlord currently letting a property rated F or G who has not already taken action must improve it to a minimum rating of E, or register an exemption where one applies¹¹.

The standard is set out in the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015, and the minimum standard of energy efficiency for certain domestic rented property is a rating of E or above⁶. The regulations cover assured, regulated and agricultural tenancies that are legally required to have an EPC, and they apply to private, local authority and other public body landlords, as well as to a tenant who sub-lets a property within scope⁶.

What this means in practice is that the EPC is not just paperwork: it is a gate on the right to let. A property stuck in band F or G is, in law, an unlettable property until it is improved or an exemption is validly registered. The rating on the certificate, not the landlord's opinion of the home's warmth, is what determines whether the letting is lawful. Tenants who want to understand what their home's rating means for their bills can read more about the UK private rented sector and about renting and home energy.

Getting an EPC: assessors, cost and validity

The certificate must be carried out by an accredited energy assessor¹². Qualified assessors can be found on the EPC register¹³. To produce the certificate, the assessor inspects the property and uses information such as the type of construction, the heating system and the lighting¹⁴. The assessment is not a structural survey; it is a standardised inspection that allows buyers and tenants to compare energy efficiency and likely heating and lighting costs before entering a contract⁵.

The certificate itself must meet content requirements set in legislation¹⁵:

• the asset rating of the building
• reference values such as current legal standards and benchmarks
• the register reference number
• the address
• the total useful floor area
• the assessor's name and employer
• the issue date
• the name of the accreditation scheme¹⁵

Cost is not fixed by law. Getting a property on the EPC register costs between £60 and £120¹⁷, and landlords obtain quotes in the usual way. What the law does fix is who pays for what: the landlord commissions and pays for the assessment, and the certificate must be made available free of charge to prospective tenants and buyers, with a free copy to the successful tenant or purchaser⁹. In Scotland, an EPC is required as part of the Home Report when a property is sold¹⁸.

Validity matters at every re-letting. An EPC belongs to the building, and a certificate produced for one tenancy can be reused for the next within its period of validity. Once it expires, a fresh assessment is needed before the property is advertised again, because the duty to make a valid certificate available applies whenever the building is marketed⁴.

Planning upgrades with your EPC report advice

Every EPC comes with more than a rating. With each certificate is a report setting out the cost-effective measures that can be taken to improve the property's energy efficiency and energy rating, such as low-energy bulbs or upgraded insulation⁵. The EPC is accompanied by a recommendations report that provides more detailed information about improvement measures¹⁹.

For a landlord, this report is the practical bridge between the legal minimum and a better property. Looking at the EPC is a good starting point to help improve a property's energy efficiency¹⁷. The recommendations are ordered and costed in a standardised way, so a landlord can see which measures would move the rating and plan spending across a portfolio over several years rather than reacting to a failed letting.

The report also matters for funding. Under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) 4 scheme, a privately rented house must have an energy efficiency rating of E, F or G for the tenant to be eligible, and the owner's permission is required for works²⁰. That means the certificate and its recommendations are not only a compliance document but the evidence base on which grant-funded improvement depends. Landlords weighing how to pay for upgrades can read about funding energy upgrades as a landlord, and tenants can read about asking a landlord for energy improvements.

Awaab's Law: social landlords' repair deadlines for damp and mould

From October 2025, Awaab's Law requires social landlords to investigate and resolve damp and mould in homes within set time periods⁷. The law applies to the social rented sector in England, and it converts what was previously a general repairing obligation into a timed duty: once damp or mould is reported, the clock starts.

The context is the wider body of evidence on cold and damp housing. The Environmental Audit Committee has recorded that EPC provision is a statutory requirement whenever a property is bought, sold or rented, part of a framework intended to drive up the efficiency of the housing stock³. Awaab's Law sits at the sharp end of that framework: it addresses not the certificate but the lived condition of the home, the mould on the wall and the damp that a tenant has reported.

For social landlords and their tenants, the practical effect is that reports of damp and mould can no longer sit in a repairs queue indefinitely. The set time periods mean investigation and resolution are duties with deadlines. Tenants in the social sector can read more about energy in social housing, and any tenant dealing with mould now can read about damp and mould in rented homes.

How the rules vary between UK nations

The EPC duty itself is UK-wide, but the minimum standard and the surrounding rules are not identical. The position in each nation is set out below.

Scotland is moving on a different track from England and Wales. Under the Scottish Government's draft Energy Efficiency (Domestic Private Rented Property) (Scotland) Regulations, the "minimum level of energy efficiency" would mean a heat retention rating of C, a different measure from the EPC band used south of the border²¹. Under the draft regulations, local authorities would carry out enforcement and compliance duties²². This is a consultation-stage policy, not yet in force, but it signals a Scottish standard that would be both higher and measured differently.

Landlords in the other nations should check the equivalent duties in force where the property stands. Tenants and landlords in Wales can read about fitness for human habitation in Welsh rented homes, and those in Scotland about the Repairing Standard.

Proposed band C minimum and upcoming EPC changes

The band E floor is not the end point. The UK Government has proposed raising the minimum EPC standard for domestic private rented properties to band C by 2030⁶. Official statistics record new proposals for private and social rented homes to meet EPC C by 2030⁷. Both are proposals rather than law: a landlord letting at band E today is compliant today, but the direction of travel is clearly upward and the lead time for major works such as insulation and heating upgrades is measured in years, not months.

The certificate itself is also being reformed, on both sides of the border:

• UK Government: a partial response to the consultation on reforms to the energy performance of buildings regime includes proposals to require short-term lets to have a valid EPC in place when let, irrespective of who is responsible for meeting energy costs²³.
• Scottish Government: a new EPC rating system for domestic buildings will give clearer information on the fabric energy efficiency of a property, the emissions, efficiency and running costs of its heating system, and the cost of energy to run the home to standardised conditions²⁴.

The Scottish reforms follow consultation on a policy basis set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, advised by the Climate Change Committee²⁵. Scottish guidance confirms that EPCs must be provided when a building is advertised for sale or for let to a new tenant, a duty that continues through any reform of the rating system itself²⁶. For landlords, the practical reading is that the compliance document of the 2020s is likely to look different from, and demand more than, the one in force today.

Enforcement, exemptions and fines

Landlords have a legal obligation to comply with the EPC rules and could be subject to a fine if they do not¹⁰. Enforcement of the minimum standard in England and Wales runs through the exemptions framework: a landlord who cannot meet band E must register a valid exemption, and the register is the evidence base on which trading standards and local authorities act²⁸.

The exemptions are specific and each carries evidence requirements:

• Consent refused: where consent for a relevant energy efficiency measure was required and sought, and was refused, or was granted subject to a condition the landlord was not reasonably able to comply with, an exemption may be available²⁸.
• Property devaluation: this exemption exists, but even under it a landlord will still be required to install any relevant improvements recommended for the property that are not covered by the surveyor's report, unless another exemption applies²⁸.
• Temporary landlord: a landlord who becomes a landlord temporarily has six months, after which they must either have improved the property to at least band E or have registered another valid exemption if they intend to continue letting²⁸.
• Expiry: after the exemption period ends, the landlord must try again to improve the property's EPC rating to meet the minimum level, and if this still cannot be achieved, a further exemption may be registered²⁸.

Legislation also protects landlords where the tenant is the obstacle. Regulation 31 provides that the minimum standard duty does not apply at any time when the landlord has, within the preceding five years, been unable to increase the energy performance indicator to the required level as a result of the tenant refusing consent to a relevant energy efficiency improvement²⁹. In Scotland, under the draft regulations, local authorities would have powers to serve a compliance notice and a penalty notice for individual acts of non-compliance, which can include financial penalties, a publication penalty or both, subject to an appeals process²².

How far these duties support a household's independence

For a tenant, the landlord duties guarantee a floor, not a destination. The law secures working heating, a safe electrical installation, a CO alarm where a combustion appliance sits in living accommodation, and a home that meets at least band E in England and Wales. It does not secure low bills: a band E home is a legal minimum, and a tenant in one can still face higher running costs than the same family in a band C property. The tenant remains dependent on the landlord for the fabric and the heating system, and on an energy supplier for the fuel.

For a landlord, the duties are a compliance burden with a long horizon. The band E floor is in force, the band C proposal for 2030 is on the table, and the EPC itself is being redesigned on both sides of the border. A landlord who treats the recommendations report as a maintenance plan, rather than a document to file, is working with the grain of the policy rather than against it.

Neither party should read these duties as delivering energy independence. They deliver energy adequacy: a home that can be heated lawfully and safely. Independence, the ability to generate, store and manage energy in the home, sits above this floor and is a matter of investment and agreement between landlord and tenant, not of legal minimums. What the law does is make sure that the floor itself cannot be withdrawn.