Energy bills: action required by some landlords by 30/11/22

If your tenants pay you for the energy they use (most commonly this would be through an “all inclusive” rent) then new regulations require you to take action in relation to the government energy price support you have received.

This does not apply to the vast majority of landlords whose tenants pay utility suppliers directly for the energy they use – these landlords do not need to take any action

If your tenants pay you for the energy they use you need to pass on any price support you have received where it is “just and reasonable” to do so. Price support received includes the £400 energy bills support scheme payment (in most cases this is paid in instalments of £66/£67 between October 2022 and March 2023) and the energy price cap guarantee on utility unit rates.

In most cases landlords will have shielded their tenants from energy price rises by not increasing the charges they make to tenants since bills started to increase from April 2022. If this is the case then it is likely to be considered just and reasonable for the landlord to retain all the price support they’ve received.

Government guidance on the regulations can be read here and contains several examples of how to calculate how much it is just and reasonable to pass on.

In all cases the regulations require you to write to your tenants to notify them of what you are passing on (or to notify them that you don’t consider it just and reasonable to pass on any of the price support you’ve received). Tenants must be notified by 30 November 2022 about any price support received by the landlord up to 1 November 2022. Thereafter notification letters must be issued within 30 days of any future price support being received by the landlord. A template notification letter can be found here (landlords should use the “template letter for intermediaries”)