Whatever your current EPC rating - A, B, C, D or E - get a new EPC assessment before 1 October 2029 and secure your grandfather rights for 10 years under the current rules.
After 1 October 2029, every new EPC will be issued under the new Home Energy Model (HEM) - a stricter methodology under which your current rating may fall. Acting now locks in your compliance position before the rules change permanently.
Check My Property - FreeIn January 2026, the government confirmed that all privately rented properties in England and Wales must reach EPC C by 1 October 2030. But buried in the detail is a provision that changes everything for landlords who act now.
From 1 October 2029, the current EPC methodology - known as RdSAP 10 - will be replaced by the new Home Energy Model (HEM). Properties assessed under HEM face a more demanding dual standard that, for many older properties, will require a heat pump or solar panels on top of fabric improvements.
Properties that achieve EPC C under the current RdSAP 10 methodology before 1 October 2029 will benefit from grandfathering EPC C status - meaning they are treated as compliant until their certificate expires, which could be as late as 2037 or 2039.
The current RdSAP system measures estimated running costs of heating, lighting and hot water. It uses a simplified monthly calculation and age-based defaults. The RdSAP 10 deadline of 1 October 2029 is therefore the critical date for landlords - not 2030.
HEM replaces this with a dual metric standard:
For many older properties - particularly Victorian terraces and solid-walled buildings - HEM will require a heat pump or solar panels in addition to fabric improvements. Under RdSAP 10 today, those same properties may be able to reach C with loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, and heating controls alone.
If your property is already rated EPC C, you might think you can sit back and relax. But there is a significant opportunity that most C-rated landlords are missing.
Your current EPC certificate is valid for 10 years. But here is what matters - if you get a new EPC assessment now under RdSAP 10, you reset that 10-year clock under the current, simpler methodology. That new certificate would be valid until 2035 or beyond, locking in your compliance long after HEM takes over.
If you wait until your current certificate expires and it happens to be after October 2029, your next assessment will be under HEM - a stricter dual metric standard that may be harder and more expensive to satisfy, particularly for properties with gas boilers.
There is an additional benefit. Many older EPCs were based on assessor defaults - assumed no loft insulation, assumed single glazing, assumed no heating controls. If you have made improvements since your last assessment, a new EPC under RdSAP 10 now may push your rating higher into C, giving you an even stronger compliance position before 2029.
The 2030 EPC C deadline has already been pushed back once. Many landlords are quietly hoping it gets delayed again. But here is what most people are not talking about:
This means that from October 2029, every new EPC assessment - for any property - will be assessed under HEM's stricter dual metric standard. And under HEM, properties currently rated C, D or E are likely to be assessed very differently.
Consider what HEM requires that RdSAP 10 does not:
The scale of potential reclassification is significant. Approximately 52% of private rental properties in England and Wales are currently below EPC C. But under HEM, properties that currently sit just above the C/D boundary under RdSAP 10 may find themselves below it - despite no physical changes made to the building.
Imagine the 2030 deadline is pushed back to 2033. A landlord with a D-rated property decides to wait. In 2029, HEM takes over. Their property is now assessed under HEM - and drops to an E. When the deadline eventually arrives, they now face a significantly harder and more expensive path to compliance than if they had acted under RdSAP 10 in 2027.
Waiting for a deadline delay is not a strategy. The methodology change makes acting before 2029 the only certain route to locking in compliance under the current, simpler rules.
Grandfather rights exist precisely because the government recognised this problem. Properties that secure EPC C under RdSAP 10 before October 2029 are protected - deemed compliant until their certificate expires regardless of what happens to the 2030 deadline or HEM's band boundaries.
Acting before 2029 is likely cheaper for three reasons:
Free instant check - we pull your live EPC data and show you exactly where your property stands before the HEM methodology change affects landlords in 2029. Find out what it would take to secure grandfather rights under the current, cheaper rules.