Throughout 2025, the UK Government has concluded three major consultations aimed at improving the quality, safety and energy performance of homes. These cover reforms to energy performance and EPCs, the Future Homes Standard, and an updated Decent Homes Standard.

Taken together, these reforms represent a significant shift in how housing is regulated across both new and existing homes. They introduce more detailed requirements, clearer expectations on landlords, and a stronger focus on energy efficiency and tenant outcomes.

Reforming energy performance and EPCs

The Government has now published a partial response to its consultation on reforming the Energy Performance of Buildings regime, which underpins Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards across the housing system. You can read the full response here.

The most significant change is the move away from a single EPC rating towards four headline metrics covering energy cost, fabric performance, heating system performance, and smart readiness. This is intended to give consumers a clearer and more detailed understanding of how their home performs and what improvements may be needed.

Alongside these headline metrics, EPCs will include a secondary energy demand metric based on delivered energy, providing an estimate of how much energy a building uses in practice. A secondary carbon metric will also be retained to indicate the emissions associated with the property. For continuity, the existing Energy Efficiency Rating will remain in place during the transition to allow comparison with current EPCs.

The Government has also confirmed that EPCs will be required at the point a property is marketed, rather than at the point of sale or letting. This change is designed to ensure that buyers and tenants have access to key information earlier in their decision-making process.

The scope of the EPC regime will be expanded. This includes requiring EPCs for whole houses in multiple occupation when a single room is let, covering short term rental properties regardless of who pays the energy bills, and removing certain exemptions, including for heritage properties. These changes are intended to create a more complete and consistent picture of energy performance across the housing stock.

EPCs will continue to be valid for ten years, reflecting concerns about the cost of more frequent assessments. However, the Government is still considering whether new EPCs should be required when existing ones expire in the private rented sector, with further clarity expected in the final response in 2026.

The reforms are closely linked to wider changes to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards. The Government is working to ensure that EPC reforms and MEES requirements align, while also maintaining exemptions where improvements would not be suitable or cost effective. This includes a recognition that some retrofit measures may not be appropriate for all properties and that landlords should seek expert advice before undertaking works.

There is also a growing focus on real world performance. The Government has indicated interest in using smart meter data and other tools to better understand how homes perform in use, with further consultation ongoing through the Home Energy Model work.

Overall, these changes are intended to make EPCs more useful for consumers, more effective as a regulatory tool, and better aligned with net zero objectives. New style EPCs are expected to be introduced from 2026, subject to legislation.

A new Decent Homes Standard for all rented housing

The Government has also published its response to the consultation on reforming the Decent Homes Standard, which you can read here. We previously explored the proposals when the consultation was launched in our blog, Understanding the reform to the Decent Homes Standard. 

Originally introduced in 2001 for social housing, the DHS has now been redesigned as a unified, modern standard that reflects current expectations of what a safe and decent home should provide. From 2035, all rented homes will be expected to meet this standard, with enforcement led by local authorities and the Regulator of Social Housing. 

The new standard is structured around five core criteria. Homes must be free from the most serious safety hazards, be in a reasonable state of repair, provide essential facilities such as kitchens and bathrooms, deliver adequate thermal comfort, and be free from damp and mould. The explicit inclusion of damp and mould reflects increasing concern about housing conditions and tenant wellbeing.

Thermal comfort is now directly linked to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, reinforcing the connection between housing quality and energy performance. This means that energy efficiency is no longer treated as a separate issue but as a core component of what makes a home decent.

The Government has also set out how the standard will be applied in practice, including circumstances where full compliance may not be possible or appropriate. These include situations where tenants refuse access for works, where physical or planning constraints prevent improvements, or where properties are due to be sold, demolished or redeveloped.

In the social rented sector, landlords will be expected to report to the Regulator of Social Housing where they rely on such exemptions. In the private rented sector, local authorities will take these factors into account when deciding on enforcement action and will use their discretion to determine the most appropriate response.

There is also recognition that certain types of accommodation, such as supported housing or temporary accommodation, may not be able to meet all elements of the standard where this would not be in the best interests of residents. Guidance will also clarify how the standard applies to leasehold properties, including the respective responsibilities of freeholders and leaseholders.

Importantly, the Decent Homes Standard will interact with MEES, which will have its own set of exemptions, including a spend cap of £10,000 for energy efficiency improvements. Further detail on this will be set out in the Government’s response to the social rented sector MEES consultation.

Detailed guidance is expected to follow, including practical examples of how the standard should be applied. The emphasis is on ensuring that landlords, tenants and regulators can work together to deliver improvements in a way that is proportionate and realistic. The long lead-in time to 2035 is intended to give landlords the opportunity to plan and invest, particularly in the context of other reforms such as the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. However, the Government has been clear that this is not an invitation to delay action, especially where issues such as safety or damp and mould are concerned.

The Future Homes Standard and new build housing

The Government has also confirmed the Future Homes and Buildings Standards, with the full consultation response available here.

These standards will come into force from March 2027 and will apply to new homes and buildings. Their central aim is to ensure that new homes are zero carbon ready, meaning they will not require retrofit as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise.

New homes built under the standard will have high levels of fabric efficiency and will use low carbon heating systems such as heat pumps. They are expected to have lower running costs and improved indoor conditions, including better air quality and reduced risk of damp, mould and overheating.

A key new requirement is the installation of renewable electricity generation, typically solar panels. The guidance indicates that this will usually mean installing solar PV equivalent to around 40 percent of a home’s ground floor area, although flexibility is built in where this is not feasible. Where a minimum level of generation cannot be achieved, exemptions may apply.

The Government has chosen to retain existing performance metrics within building regulations, including those based on primary energy and carbon emissions, rather than moving fully to a delivered energy approach. However, delivered energy will be introduced as a voluntary metric, allowing developers to report on expected real world energy use if they choose to do so.

There is also a stronger focus on how homes are used in practice. The introduction of Home User Guides will require developers to provide clear and accessible information to homeowners on how to operate their property, including heating systems such as heat pumps. These guides must be provided in an appropriate format, which is expected to include both digital and physical copies.

The Government has also signalled further work on performance testing and the gap between design and actual energy use. A future call for evidence will explore how post occupancy evaluation can be implemented in a way that is practical and cost effective.

Transitional arrangements have been built in to allow the industry time to adapt, but the direction of travel is clear. New homes will need to meet significantly higher standards of energy efficiency and carbon performance than is currently the case.

What happens next

While the Government has now set out the direction of travel across all three areas, this is not the end of the process. Several important details are still to be confirmed over the course of 2026, particularly in relation to enforcement, guidance, and how the different standards will operate together in practice.

For energy performance reforms, a further government response is expected to cover outstanding areas such as EPC data, quality assurance, Display Energy Certificates, and air conditioning inspection reports. This will also be critical in clarifying how EPC requirements will apply throughout tenancies in the private rented sector and how the regime will interact with evolving MEES regulations.

For the Decent Homes Standard, more detailed guidance will be published to support landlords, tenants and regulators, including practical examples of how exemptions should be applied and how compliance will be assessed across different tenures. This will be particularly important in ensuring that the standard is implemented consistently while remaining flexible enough to account for the wide variation in housing stock.

In the case of the Future Homes Standard, attention will now turn to implementation. With the regulations coming into force in 2027, there is a limited window for industry to prepare, particularly given ongoing challenges around skills, supply chains and the delivery of new technologies such as heat pumps. Further work on performance testing and the energy performance gap will also be key to ensuring that the intended benefits of the standard are realised in practice.

A step change for housing quality

Taken together, these reforms represent a step change in how housing quality is defined and delivered in England. There is a clear shift towards a system where energy efficiency, safety and overall housing conditions are more closely integrated, rather than treated as separate policy areas.

For landlords, this will require earlier planning, greater investment, and a more strategic approach to managing housing stock over the long term. For developers, the Future Homes Standard raises expectations on design, construction and performance from the outset. For tenants and homeowners, these changes should lead to clearer information, stronger protections and better living environments.

The success of these reforms will ultimately depend on how well they are implemented. Clear guidance, effective enforcement, and ongoing engagement with industry and tenants will all be essential. If delivered effectively, these standards have the potential to significantly improve the quality and performance of homes across the country, while supporting wider objectives around affordability, health and the transition to net zero.