You cannot let a band F house in England and Wales without a valid exemption: it falls below the minimum threshold of band E. That leaves the landlord two lawful routes, improving the property to at least E or registering an exemption, and the law caps how much they can be required to spend. When selling, F costs the owner noticeably more than its neighbouring bands: such a house goes for 7.7% less than an identical band D house, and for older terraced houses the gap in price per square metre is wider still. Below is the procedure for both cases.
Contents
↓ Band F by property type↓ Band F by region
What the law requires of a landlord
The rules come from the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) for private rented property. The procedure, according to the GOV.UK guidance for landlords, updated on 5 May 2026:
- If a band F house is already let, it must be improved to E straight away or an exemption registered.
- Before a new tenancy agreement, do the same before signing.
- You are not required to spend more than £3,500 including VAT on improvements (the cost cap). If that sum does not get the property to E, the shortfall is covered by an exemption.
- The exemption is registered in the PRS Exemptions Register and runs from the moment of registration, usually for 5 years.
- A breach carries a civil penalty: up to £2,000 if the property was let for less than 3 months, up to £4,000 for 3 months or longer, and never more than £5,000 for one property.
There are six kinds of exemption:
| Exemption | When it applies |
|---|---|
| All improvements made | every available measure has been carried out and the property is still below E |
| High cost | even the cheapest measure costs more than the cost cap |
| Wall insulation | wall insulation could damage the fabric of the building |
| Third-party consent | the required consent (tenant, council, owner, lender) could not be obtained |
| Devaluation | the improvements would noticeably reduce the market value of the property |
| New landlord | the person became a landlord recently in special circumstances, for a short period |
An example: a landlord has a band F flat and the tenancy is coming to an end. Before the new tenancy they either bring the flat up to E or register an exemption in the PRS Exemptions Register; the law does not oblige them to spend more than £3,500 including VAT. The government's aim of bringing as much rented housing as possible up to band C by 2030 is not yet a requirement. Always check letting rules against the GOV.UK guidance; this site's assessment does not replace it.
Band F on the sales market
From January 2015 to September 2026, 247,037 sold houses were band F, which is 2.7% of sales with an EPC (HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, EPC register as at November 2026). At the median, F is 9% cheaper per m² than D. A like for like comparison by floor area, type, build period and year of sale barely narrows the gap: −7.7% with a 95% range of −8.3% to −7.0%. It shows most strongly for terraced houses: F sells at £1,979 per m² across 71,273 sales, while terraced D stands at £2,459. The regional gap is shown in the table on this page; the neighbouring steps of the scale are covered on the pages for band E and band G.
Gas at a band F home: the certificate figure and the meters
For a gas-heated band F house, the EPC gives a median figure of 65,794 kWh a year. That is primary energy including lighting, an overestimate, and you cannot turn it into pound figures. DESNZ meter data for 2024 shows that in the postcodes where such homes predominate, actual consumption ran at about 31% of that figure. No need to be alarmed by the certificate's calculation, but do not build a budget on it either: for a band F house the calculation diverges from the meter more sharply than for band D or E.
Band F in brief
You cannot let a band F house without an exemption: it must be raised to E or an exemption registered in the PRS Exemptions Register (usually for 5 years); spending more than £3,500 including VAT is not required, and the penalty is up to £5,000 per property. On sale, band F is like for like 7.7% cheaper than D (−8.3% to −7.0%), and terraced houses show the biggest difference in price per m². Metered gas in such postcodes comes to about 31% of the certificate's 65,794 kWh. All the bands side by side are shown in the comparison from A to G.