Savills research discussed in July 2023 estimated the scale of work needed to bring privately rented homes to an EPC C rating. LandlordZONE reported an aggregate cost of around £30 billion and approximately 2.9 million homes within the analysis. The figures were estimates based on a defined exercise, rather than expenditure already incurred.
The report associated much of the challenge with older housing. It said 71% of homes built before 1950 had been below C in the relevant 2021–22 data, compared with a much smaller share of post-1995 homes. That comparison described groups within the dataset; the age of one building did not alone establish its rating or required work.
Indicative costs also varied with the starting band. The source cited a lower average for D-rated homes and a much higher one for G-rated properties. Those averages were not quotations and could not specify the condition, suitable measures or installation costs at an individual address.
The analysis included a scenario in which expenditure was capped at £10,000 per property. Under that assumption, the reported aggregate cost fell to around £25 billion. A scenario in a model is different from a universally available exemption or a legal spending limit. This retrospective does not present the assumed cap as current policy.
Savills researcher Lucian Cook distinguished relatively low-cost measures from major work such as insulation and heating improvements. His comments concerned the practical difficulty of funding larger projects alongside other pressures facing landlords. The account did not establish that one package of measures was suitable for every home.
The original report was framed by the energy-policy proposals being debated in 2023. References to expected deadlines and possible delays belonged to that period. They are not reproduced as a statement of what an owner must do now.
Read historically, the headline conveys the potential scale of a sector-wide exercise while leaving important property-level questions unresolved. Modelled totals, cost-cap scenarios and individual quotations answer different questions. The archive keeps those distinctions visible so that an estimated national bill is not mistaken for a guaranteed cost or outcome at a particular rental home.