Let Zero: South Yorkshire’s Retrofit for Private Rentals
15th November 2024
How much of a challenge is retrofit in the private rented sector? Well, large enough such that even forward-thinking local authorities, when targeting retrofit on harder-to-reach groups, look to focus on ‘digitally divided’ and non-English speaking owner occupiers rather than seeking large-scale engagement with the mass market of private landlords and tenants.
It is a tricky nut to crack. Especially in parts of South Yorkshire, where property prices do not match those elsewhere in the country, so the costs of retrofit as a proportion will far outweigh any value uplift or higher rental yields achieved from turning a ‘E’ rated house into an EPC ‘C’. The split incentive rule, where benefits from retrofit accrue mostly to the tenant while the landlord is left with all the costs, leaves most wondering what their motivation might be. Then add the coming wave of new legislation: an end to no-fault evictions, tenants to be allowed their pets(!), rumoured changes to Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax. Many landlords say they are looking to sell up before it is too late.
The re-instatement of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) deadline of EPC ‘C’ by 2030 has also been promised, and those who do plan to remain in the market are taking notice of this. South Yorkshire’s older housing stock is not at all energy efficient, and fuel poverty affected 19% of households in 2020, the second highest figure in the country. And that was before the cost of living crisis. Cold homes make unhealthy homes, and the sad events which led to the creation of Awaab’s Law for social landlords may result in similar requirements to respond urgently to cases of damp and mould in the private rented sector (PRS).
In preparation for this, local authorities might have been planning to tool up with more housing standards enforcement officers, but the housing directors of South Yorkshire’s four authorities - Barnsley, Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster – were looking for an alternative; a new positive approach to encourage landlords to start planning energy efficiency improvements. This was the genesis of the Let Zero project, a partnership of twelve organisations led by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
Let Zero is funded by Innovate UK and is an 18-month experimental research project which aims to create a service model for retrofit tailored to the needs of private landlords which can be replicated across the country, with the potential for commercial exploitation into other housing sectors.
The project will develop and test several technical innovations, starting with the data-driven targeting of PRS households most likely to be in fuel poverty, while researching and trialling a range of landlord and tenant engagement strategies. The theory is that by finding the right opening into the sector, providing reliable information early, unscrambling the maze of grants and funding eligibility rules (even demonstrating that tenants on low incomes can unlock retrofit grant funding), and reducing uncertainty through all stages of the retrofit journey, more landlords will be able to access the mutual benefits derived from healthy homes which their tenants can afford to heat and want to live in.
Some of the ways in which Let Zero will be innovating the private rented sector retrofit journey:
Briefing stage
Automated stock modelling for PRS properties in South Yorkshire, provision of retrofit design options and cost-benefit data using machine learning, taking account of space standards and other design constraints
Consumer-facing App to facilitate engagement by a One Stop Shop which guides tenants and landlords through the whole journey, links to grants and green finance options, and provides energy efficiency ‘quick wins’
Design stage
Combine property scans and skilled retrofit assessment with AI-powered design refinement and production of finished design
Procurement stage
Local supply chain engagement on pricing of retrofit works, communicated via App
Integration of aggregated local supplier list, also built into App, to aid selection by the landlord
Construction stage
Offsite manufacture of kit-of-parts for accelerated installation, new methods promoting better co-ordination of different solution providers on site using the production of a show-home as an exemplar.
The project itself is still at the research and development stage with trial service rollout planned for Spring 2025, but we can already see that a single-minded focus on problem identification and resolution, rather than avoiding the challenge and chasing lower hanging retrofit fruit, may yield positive results and bring some small hope for the planet and for the millions who live in leaky rented homes.
www.southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk/letzero
Malcolm Ramsay, Project Manager
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
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