Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards: Cost Caps for Landlords

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords—

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

I defer to the noble Lord.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

That is very generous of the noble Baroness. Further to the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, has the Minister seen a survey by the National Residential Landlords Association indicating that 31% of private landlords are planning to leave the market in the near future, aggravating the existing shortage? What steps is the Minister taking to encourage long-term institutional investment by institutions—insurance companies and pension funds—to remedy this shortage?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The Government value the contribution made by responsible landlords and believe that they must enjoy robust grounds for possession and so on, but there is good reason for them to think about these reforms. They have nothing to fear from our reforms. The sector has doubled in size since the early 2000s. There is no evidence of exodus since reform has been put on the table. Our proposals make sure that landlords have the confidence and support that they need to continue to invest and operate in the sector. However, we are determined to level the playing field between landlords and private tenants by providing the latter with greater security. The noble Lord mentioned institutional investment. There is already institutional investment taking place through our major banking organisations to support private landlords to do the work that they need to do. That goes alongside a range of government funding, which will help with the differences that we all want to see.