Can I ask my landlord to upgrade our building in order to reduce our energy costs?

I am a tenant in a house I have been renting for 10 years. The house has not been renovated and it is very old. My housemates and I are facing high energy bills due to this. Do I have the right to ask my landlord to renovate my building as I am facing the brunt of increasing energy bills every month?

The brevity of your query makes it difficult to answer. I take it you were aware of the energy rating of the property when you originally rented the house. If it is very old, I imagine it has a low energy rating and you are suffering the consequences of the increased energy costs of heating, etc. I don’t know if I can say that you have a right to ask your landlord to renovate the rental house. Your building must meet the minimum housing standards, however, the landlord does not have to bring the property up to a minimum energy rating to let or to continue to let the property.

You do not state the age of the property or if it is more than 100 years old. If that is the case, substantial renovation to improve the energy rating could cost €60,000-€100,000. If, on the other hand, the house was built in the 1960s, it is probably at a D rating level and to bring it up to an A or B rating would probably cost €40,000-€60,000. Certainly, that is my experience with the few landlords I know who have embarked on such a project.

If the property you occupy has already been included in a rent pressure zone (RPZ), then the landlord’s rent is already on the low side. If the landlord was minded to substantially improve the energy rating of the property, they would have to serve a notice of refurbishment, and that would invariably mean you would have to seek alternative accommodation while the works were being carried out.

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In a scenario where the energy ratings are improved by seven levels, the landlord would be entitled to the market rent as this refurbishment would take the property out of the current RPZ bracket. So, we are left with a typical conundrum. Do you want to pay market rent? Does the landlord want to spend a lot of money?

Unfortunately, the issue is complex and there is no simple answer. I suspect this is not the reply you would have wished to receive but it brings the economic realities which many landlords confront into focus and, regrettably, there is no simple win for tenants or landlords in this situation.

Kersten Mehl is a chartered residential agency surveyor and member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland

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