Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 September 2022
53. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the policy decisions that were made on the report by the Rental Sector Energy Efficiency Advisory Group’s recommendations. [46912/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn the residential rental sector, the so called ‘split-incentive’ issue can arise when incentives to invest in energy efficiency upgrades are misaligned between landlords and tenants. The Department undertook a public consultation in late 2019 and early 2020 on the split-incentive issue as it impacts on the objective to improve energy efficiency standards in the rental sector. The consultation sought to identify the most appropriate policy interventions and to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to inform this consideration.
The findings from the consultation have informed the development of a number of new measures aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the rental sector including:
- The Government’s Housing for All Plan commits to the introduction of a minimum BER for private rental properties, where feasible, from 2025, and to develop a roadmap to implement these standards;
- The SEAI administered Community Energy Grant Scheme now includes retrofitting rental properties as an objective of the scheme to further encourage and support the retrofitting of these properties;
- The National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme, launched in February 2022, which offers grants of up to 50% of the total cost of upgrades to B2 BER is available to private landlords and Approved Housing Bodies;
- Private landlords can also avail of new increased rates of grant support to upgrade their rental properties on a step-by-step basis under the Better Energy Homes Scheme, including 80% grants for attic and cavity wall insulation.
It is also intended that non-corporate landlords will be able to avail of the planned low-cost loan scheme for retrofit when it is launched shortly.
It should also be noted that the Housing for All plan commits to the retrofitting of 36,500 local authority homes by 2030 as part of the achievement of the Climate Action Plan retrofit targets.
