EPC C by 2030: the government's announced MEES policy, explained

Last updated 15 July 2026·Applies to England & Wales

In January 2026 the government announced its intended future energy-efficiency policy for privately rented homes in England and Wales: an equivalent of EPC C from 1 October 2030, with proposed fines of up to £30,000 per property. The policy remains subject to Parliamentary approval. This guide separates today's EPC E law from the government's plans and explains what landlords can sensibly prepare for now.

The rules today: EPC E minimum

Since April 2020, the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) have made it unlawful to let a domestic property in England or Wales with an EPC rating of F or G, unless a valid exemption is registered on the PRS Exemptions Register. The current regime caps required spending at £3,500 including VAT, and local authorities can fine non-compliant landlords up to £5,000 per property.

That is still the law right now, and it remains the standard landlords must meet unless and until Parliament approves legislation that changes it.

What the government has announced for 2030

The government's response to the "Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes" consultation, published in January 2026, set out the following intended policy. Each element remains subject to Parliamentary approval:

One deadline for everyone: 1 October 2030. The original proposal was a phased start — new tenancies from 2028, all tenancies from 2030. That was dropped. New and existing tenancies would instead share a single implementation date.
A proposed £10,000 cost cap. Landlords would spend up to £10,000 per property on relevant improvements. If the property still did not reach the standard after that, the announced policy would allow a ten-year exemption to be registered.
An announced affordability carve-out for cheaper properties. Homes valued below £100,000 would have a lower cap of 10% of the property's value.
Proposed fines up to £30,000 per property, per breach — six times today's maximum. The government says the higher level is intended to discourage treating a fine as cheaper than the works.

The important detail: the announced standard would not use today's EPC C alone

The government is also reforming EPCs. Its plans describe certificates based on the Home Energy Model rather than the current RdSAP methodology, with four headline metrics: fabric performance, heating system, smart readiness and energy cost. The planned launch is in the second half of 2027, with current and reformed systems intended to run side by side until at least October 2029.

Under the announced policy, the 2030 standard would use the reformed metrics: a property would need to reach the equivalent of C on fabric performance, plus C on either the smart readiness or heating system metric. In practice this is a fabric-first policy — insulation and airtightness come before bolt-on technology.

Announced transitional protection: under the government's intended policy, a property that achieves C on a current-style EPC before 1 October 2029 would be treated as compliant until the certificate expires. The policy also says qualifying spend from 1 October 2025 onwards would count towards the £10,000 cap (excluding fossil-fuel heating). These provisions remain subject to Parliamentary approval.

What landlords should do now

Check the EPC you have. Look at the rating, the expiry date, and the recommendations list — that list is the starting point for any upgrade plan.
If you're at D, price the gap to C. For many properties the jump is cheaper than expected — see our guide to what a D-to-C upgrade actually costs.
Favour fabric measures. Loft and wall insulation improve both today's rating and the fabric-performance metric the 2030 standard is built on. Solar panels can flatter the current cost-based score but do nothing for fabric performance.
Keep evidence of spending. The announced policy would count qualifying work done from 1 October 2025 towards the proposed cap. Keep invoices and verify the final legislation before relying on that treatment.
Understand the proposed transition. The government intends a current-style C lodged before 1 October 2029 to be recognised until that certificate expires, subject to Parliamentary approval.
Know the fallback. If the numbers genuinely don't work, understand how MEES exemptions operate — including the currently available exemptions and the announced ten-year exemption after capped spend.