What's still coming: EPC C, Decent Homes and licensing in East London
Three obligations landing between now and 2030, with the dates and rough numbers you should be putting in a spreadsheet this year.
The Renters' Rights Act was the headline. The expensive part is the compliance schedule sitting behind it. Three things to plan for.
1. Minimum EPC C by 2030
Government policy is a minimum energy efficiency standard of EPC C for private rented homes, with new tenancies expected to be caught first and all tenancies by 2030, subject to a cost cap per property in the region of £15,000 with exemptions where the cap is exceeded. A typical Ilford Victorian or 1930s semi sits at D or E. Getting from D to C is usually loft insulation, a modern boiler or heat pump, and cavity or internal wall insulation — realistically £5,000 to £15,000 depending on where you start and whether the walls are solid.
Do the assessment now rather than in 2029. Assessor and installer capacity will be the constraint, not the money.
2. Decent Homes Standard in the private sector
The standard that has applied to social housing for two decades is being extended to private rentals: free of Category 1 hazards under HHSRS, in a reasonable state of repair, with reasonably modern kitchens and bathrooms and effective insulation and heating. "Reasonably modern" has an age test attached — kitchens over 20 years old and bathrooms over 30 tend to fail. If your rental has a kitchen from 2003, budget for it.
3. Licensing across the East London boroughs
Mandatory HMO licensing already catches five or more occupiers forming more than one household. On top of that, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Newham and Waltham Forest have each operated additional or selective licensing schemes covering large parts of their areas, and schemes are renewed and redrawn on five-year cycles. Fees typically run from a few hundred pounds to over a thousand per property per scheme. Check your specific street on the borough's licensing map — coverage often changes at a ward boundary.
Operating unlicensed risks a civil penalty of up to £30,000, a rent repayment order of up to twelve months' rent, and an inability to serve valid possession notices.
The planning point
Across a 4-bed house you are plausibly looking at £10,000 to £20,000 of capital work plus recurring licensing before 2030. That is a decision about whether the property still earns its place, and it is better made against real figures than left to arrive as a deadline.