Every home EPC rated B or above in 10 years - party pledge

A political party is pledging that if elected it will make every home in the UK have an EPC rating of B or above within 10 years.

The Green Party says it will push for “a local-authority-led, street-by-street retrofit programme” to insulate homes, provide clean heat and start to adapt buildings to more extreme climate conditions. 

This would mean investment of £29 billion over the next five years to insulate homes to an EPC B standard or above as part of a 10-year programme; spend £4 billion over the next five years to insulate other buildings; and an additional £9 billion over the next five years for low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps.

There will also be 150,000 new social homes every year through a mix of new-build and the purchase/refurbishment of older housing stock, and the end of council tenants having the Right To Buy.

All new housing schemes would have to be accompanied by “extra investment needed in local health, transport and other services” while all new homes must meet Passivhaus or equivalent standards and will have to include solar panels and heat pumps, where appropriate.

The Greens are particularly focussing on rental reform, advocating rent controls “so local authorities can control rents if the rental market is unaffordable for many local people”; a new stable rental tenancy and an end to no-fault evictions “so tenants are secure in their homes and don’t have their lives turned upside down on the whim of their landlords”; a tenant’s right to demand energy efficiency improvements; and so-called Private Residential Tenancy Boards “to provide an informal, cheap and speedy forum for resolving disputes before they reach a tribunal.”