Plan the energy-efficiency work on a rental property and see how the spend would count towards the landlord cost cap the government has proposed for the new minimum standard. Enter each measure's cost, any grant, and the yearly saving from your EPC or a quote, and the planner adds up what would count towards the cap, shows the headroom left, sets your total beside the government's published average, and works out payback. It never predicts an EPC rating.
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Proposed — not yet law The cost cap in this planner is a proposal, not yet law: Final policy confirmed 21 January 2026; not yet law (the enabling statutory instrument has not been laid; government aims for it to be in force in 2027). The figures could change before it is made law. The band boundaries for the new EPC metrics have not been set, and the launch of the new EPCs has moved to the second half of 2027. The standard applies in England and Wales.
Private landlords in England and Wales will have to bring rented homes up to a new minimum energy standard. Because some homes cannot reach it cheaply, the government's final policy includes a cost cap: under the proposal, a landlord would not be required to spend more than £10,000 per property over 10 years, with spend counting from 1 October 2025. This is a proposal and not yet law: Final policy confirmed 21 January 2026; not yet law (the enabling statutory instrument has not been laid; government aims for it to be in force in 2027).
Under the proposal, for a property valued below £100,000, the cap would be the lower of £10,000 and 1/10 of the property's value. This proposed adjustment is not yet law either. Enter the property's value and the planner applies it; leave the value blank and it uses the flat figure.
If you have spent up to the cap and the property still does not meet the standard, you may register a cost-cap exemption, valid for 10 years. It must be registered with evidence. The exemption route, like the cap itself, is part of a policy that is not yet law.
For each measure you enter, the planner separates what you would pay yourself from what someone else pays. Grants and other third-party funding come off your own outlay but still count towards the cap, because the government response says they do. A Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant comes off your outlay and does not count towards the cap. The planner then adds any qualifying spend you have already made and the cost of your EPCs, compares the total with the cap for your property, and shows how much headroom is left or by how much the cap is exceeded.
It then sets your counted total beside the government's published average, which is context, not a target. Where you enter a yearly saving for a measure, it divides your own outlay on that measure by the saving to give a payback period. The total saving is simply the sum of the savings you entered: several measures installed together do not necessarily save the sum of their separate figures.
What it does not do is tell you whether the work would get the property to the standard. The scores that will count as a C on the new EPC have not been set, so no calculator can honestly say a plan reaches it. Read our guide to the EPC C requirement for what is and is not known.
These figures were produced by running this page's own planner on the figures shown here, so they move when those figures do.
A landlord plans loft insulation costing £1,500 and cavity wall insulation costing £2,500, with a £1,000 grant towards the walls, plus £90 for an EPC. Their own outlay is £3,000, but £4,090 counts towards the proposed cap, because the grant counts too. Against the proposed £10,000 cap (not yet law) that leaves £5,910 of headroom.
The counted total is £1,310 below the government's published average. That says nothing about whether the work is enough. With yearly savings of £250 and £300, the loft insulation pays back in 6 years and the walls, on the landlord's own share, in 5 years.
Under the proposal, this property's value is below the threshold, so its cap would be £8,000 rather than the flat figure. That cap is a proposal, not yet law. Solid wall insulation costing £9,000 would count £9,000, which reaches that proposed cap: the planner shows the headroom as −£1,000, meaning the spend goes past the cap by that amount.
Government's central estimate of the average landlord cost per property to meet the standard: £5,400 (2025 prices (impact assessment Table 4); the impact assessment's table gives £5,387). An average across about three million very different homes, not a figure for yours. It is not a target, not a minimum and not a quote.
A different figure is sometimes quoted: £6,100 to £6,800. Options assessment, consultation stage (preferred option, 2024 prices): average landlord cost depending on the fabric standard — a different document at an earlier stage, not a competing estimate of the same thing.
Rates checked against their sources on 29 October 2026; due to be re-read by 27 January 2027. They are the same table the UK Property Portal members area uses.
Publishes typical installation costs and savings for each measure. Its figures are for typical homes, are not a quote for yours, and are not reproduced in this planner. See Energy Saving Trust. No figure from that site is used here.
An estimate worked out from the figures you enter. It is not financial or tax advice; check your own case against the guidance linked on this page, or with an adviser, before you act on it.