The government commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) to develop a toolkit to support local authorities in implementing the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) regulations within the domestic Private Rented Sector (PRS).

CSE coordinated two phases of pilot studies with 19 local authorities and developed a toolkit to help local authorities enforce the regulations.

All local authorities in England and Wales can request access to the final draft toolkit by emailing: PRSRegisterSupport@beis.gov.uk.

Privately rented homes and non-domestic buildings are required through the minimum energy efficiency standard (MEES) regulations to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E or above.

Bringing the least energy efficient UK rented homes up to standard is critical, both in order to cut carbon emissions, but also to ensure that the people living there live in a home that is warm where the bills are affordable.

CSE coordinated the first one-year phase of seven pilot studies across eight English local councils: Eden, Newcastle, Liverpool, Cambridge and Peterborough (as a joint pilot signed off by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority), Oxford, Bristol and Cornwall.

All pilots addressed MEES in the domestic private rental sector, with Cornwall, Oxford, Bristol and Newcastle additionally considering enforcement of the regulations within the non-domestic private rental sector.

During the project, CSE monitored progress, gathered insights from each pilot and reported to the then government department of BEIS. We also ran several workshops for the local authorities to share their experiences.

The final report ‘Compliance & enforcement of the minimum energy efficiency standard (MEES) in the private rented sector’ can be downloaded here:

Developing the toolkit

Drawing on findings of the pilot study, CSE developed a draft MEES enforcement toolkit, working with the seven local authorities and with BEIS support.

The toolkit addresses common challenges local authorities face enforcing the MEES Regulations:

• Finding and engaging landlords.
• Identifying non-compliant properties.
• Seeking delegation of powers.
• Resourcing MEES alongside other priorities.

To support local authorities to overcome some of these challenges, the toolkit provides guidance on establishing a sustainable approach to compliance and enforcement of domestic PRS MEES Regulations.

The toolkit includes:

• Case studies from the 19 pilots.
• Template resources (including letters and formal notices).
• Learning modules to support local authorities in their journey towards MEES compliance.
• A recommended process flow of stages for setting up and putting into practice PRS MEES enforcement.

Pilot studies phase two

A second phase of pilot studies comprised 12 different local authorities, geographically spread across England and Wales, and focused on the privately rented domestic sector. The CSE team developed the toolkit working with these different types of authorities, working to understand to what extent it could support local authorities in enforcing the MEES Regulations.

The local authorities were Bury, York, Durham, East Lindsey, Hastings, Kettering, Hackney, Monmouthshire, Tonbridge & Malling, Walsall, Watford and Wyre Forest