King Charles and Prince William could be faced with a potential £10million bill after the government's latest announcement. Labour said that landlords will be required to ensure their properties have energy performance certificate (EPC) ratings of C or higher by 2030 – up from the current requirement of an E.
According to an investigation by The Guardian, almost 90% of domestic properties in the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster and on the Sandringham estate have EPC ratings of D or lower. A total of 700 domestic properties were examined across the three estates, with 630 of them failing to meet the proposed requirements.
Cost of upgrades and potential fines
The latest figures mean that both the King and the heir will have to fork out upgrades to their properties, as much as £10,000 per unit, if they don't want to face fines of £30,000 for every home they continue to rent without carrying out the necessary work.
An EPC rating, also known as an Energy Performance Certificate rating, measures how energy efficient a property is. It's graded on a scale from A (most efficient and lowest bills) to G (least efficient and highest bills).
Environmental advocacy and criticism
The newspaper said that since both Charles and William have previously been praised for their environmental advocacy, they would likely be “criticised if the estates fail to meet the new government standards”.
Charles inherited the Duchy of Lancaster and the Sandringham estate upon his mother, Queen Elizabeth's, death in 2022, without paying inheritance tax on either estate, as sovereign-to-sovereign transfers are exempt. However, he voluntarily pays some income tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax under an agreement with the Government called the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Meanwhile, William inherited the Duchy of Cornwall from his father upon his accession to the throne.
Estates' responses and government plans
The Guardian's analysis found that 99% of the rental properties on the Sandringham estate had an EPC rating of D or lower, more than 90% for the Duchy of Lancaster and around 80% for the Duchy of Cornwall. It excluded properties that appear to have been converted into holiday lets or those with separate leasehold titles.
A Government spokesperson said: “Everyone deserves to live in a warm, comfortable home. Our plans for private rental homes to be EPC C by 2030 could lift up to half a million households out of fuel poverty by 2030, cutting bills to give families across the country the breathing space they need.”
The Duchy of Cornwall said it had a “unique portfolio, including many historic buildings located in isolated rural and island locations. While this confers a special character, it also brings some unique challenges which we have started to address systematically through our retrofit programme,” a spokesperson said. “We recognise that these challenges mean work does not always happen as fast as we would like, but we will continue to work closely with our tenants to identify effective and practical energy-efficiency improvements as quickly as possible.”
The Duchy of Lancaster said it placed “great importance” on “being a responsible landlord”. “Any tenant with concerns is encouraged to contact us directly and can be assured we will address these issues promptly and constructively. Over the last year, the Duchy of Lancaster has invested more than £3m in residential property repairs and upgrades as part of our ongoing commitment to provide well-maintained homes compliant with all legislation. While improving the energy efficiency of some historic buildings is challenging, we continue to work to improve their EPC ratings.”
A spokesperson said Sandringham has “a mixture of property and tenancy types, which are fully compliant with MEES regulations”. “We continue to invest significantly in an ongoing programme of maintenance and improvement works on all properties, including those out of scope of the regulations, to upgrade energy efficiency across the estate,” she added. “While we do not comment on individual cases, these regulations do not apply to every property on the estate, and exemptions are necessary on a small number of properties.”
