Recommendation 25

In its forthcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy, the Government, acting on the advice of the Climate Change Committee, should set an ambitious and realistic trajectory for owner occupiers to achieve minimum EPC C standards. The CCC recommends that by 2028 all properties achieve EPC level C at the point of sale. This is a hugely ambitious target and the Government must set out how it plans to raise public engagement and revise its delivery mechanisms to achieve this target and specify where exemptions may be necessary. These measures may include cost caps to be applied to such work and exemptions from the requirement to meet these standards: for instance, on the grounds of affordability or for properties recognised as hard to treat. It should also 60 Energy Efficiency of Existing Homes ascertain the risks of creating a two-tier mortgage market and long-term blight for owner occupiers and the private rented sector of hard-to adapt properties and identify and implement measures to avoid this impact.