TIME AND TIDE

‘Time and tide wait for no man’. Well, we have now celebrated Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee and passed the longest day and are into the second half of the year. Bank holidays are becoming a distant memory.

In the property sector there are matters that need to be addressed before time passes us all by. One such matter is the increase in Minimum Energy Standards for rental properties. A consultation on this subject closed recently and, at the time of writing, no results have been published. It is important as a landlord that you keep abreast of this legislation by consultation with your letting agent or getting updates from the Government website. Energy standards will be rising and there is a raft of information available to help you understand the legislation and the implications of failing to conform.

Do not let time pass you by as any deadline approaches; landlords will be looking for contractors to undertake work and their workload will increase dramatically, so if you can get the upgrades done sooner all well and good. I recently undertook an EPC on behalf of a private landlord on a property which had a ‘D’ rating. Quite sensibly the landlord studied the document to see if improvements could be made to increase the rating to Band ‘C’. Having discussed the matter with me, we came up with a relatively inexpensive plan to increase the rating by a few points to meet future minimum standard requirements. Once the landlord had done the work I re-assessed the property and issued an updated EPC which now rates the property in Band ‘C’. The landlord is now comfortable with the improved rating and the tenant will benefit from reduced energy bills.

On the sales side things are a little calmer. It is most important to get that initial asking price right to achieve an early sale as it is the first days and few weeks of marketing that are the most critical in selling. Price reductions are becoming a little more commonplace, usually a sign of over generosity in the original pricing although there are many other factors which could lead to the necessity to reduce the price.

I hope that you all enjoy the summer holidays.