Meet Helene – Landlord, Retrofit Professional, and Climate-Conscious Homeowner. With tightening Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) on the horizon for landlords, Helene turned to Ecofurb for a clear, trusted plan to upgrade her rental flat.
A referral to Knight Frank Finance helped Helene discover how to unlock further financing options for her rental flat retrofit – read on to learn more…
Helene is a part-time professional in the energy efficiency sector, a mother of two, and a landlord of a Victorian ground-floor flat in London.
With a background in domestic retrofit policy and a personal commitment to climate action, she’s uniquely positioned to understand both the technical and practical challenges of improving home energy performance.
But when it came to upgrading her own rental property ahead of upcoming MEES regulation changes, Helene faced the same questions many landlords do:
I think probably part of why we haven’t done this sooner is not feeling confident with finding the right suppliers to do the work.
That’s where Ecofurb came in – providing clear, trustworthy guidance to help Helene meet and exceed the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards.
Helene’s rental property – a one-bedroom, ground-floor flat in a converted Victorian terrace – had all the typical issues of older housing stock: poor insulation, persistent damp, and high heat loss, especially in the kitchen extension with three external walls and a flat roof.
We lived there for five or six years and encountered all of the challenges of that sort of type of building – the coldness, the drafts, and managing the damp in winter.
With MEES regulations expected to tighten in 2025, landlords will soon be required to bring their properties up to EPC Band C. Helene’s flat was rated EPC D, meaning action was needed to remain compliant and avoid potential penalties or rental restrictions.
We could do the minimum and get up from an EPC D to a C and leave it there… but we both feel quite strongly that, from a climate action point of view, we should be doing as much as we can.
Helene turned to Ecofurb for a comprehensive retrofit plan – not just because of their reputation, but because she knew the value of a PAS 2035-compliant approach to energy efficiency.
I knew a few people that worked there, and so that was why we contacted Ecofurb. I trusted that we would get the best quality from the survey and the report.
Ecofurb delivered a detailed, three-phase plan tailored to her property’s condition, tenant needs, and financial situation. The process was smooth, professional, and respectful of her tenants.
The booking process was really straightforward. They worked around my availability.
The guys who came and did the surveys… were completely professional and engaged really proactively with both me and the tenants.
Helene’s Ecofurb Plan included a phased roadmap to help her meet MEES targets and improve tenant comfort, tailored to her property’s condition, tenant needs, and financial situation:
| Phase 1: Low-cost, low-disruption improvements |
|
| Phase 2: Fabric-first insulation upgrades |
|
| Phase 3: Heating system decarbonisation |
|
The report gave us a clear roadmap. Phase one is something we’re acting on immediately. Phase two will happen when we remortgage. Phase three is further down the line.
The Ecofurb Plan isn’t just helping Helene meet the EPC C threshold – it is giving her the tools and confidence to go beyond the minimum.
By addressing insulation, ventilation, and heating in a coordinated way, Helene is futureproofing her property against rising energy costs, regulatory changes, and tenant turnover.
Addressing the draftiness and achieving a more constant temperature… it’s definitely for the benefit of the tenants.
We recognise the benefit of having good tenants who want to stay.
And for Helene, the improvements are about more than compliance or cost – they’re about doing the right thing.
I’d like to think of ourselves as good landlords. We want to give our tenants the best experience we can.
Helene now has a clear, actionable plan that aligns with her values, her budget, and MEES compliance.
The Ecofurb plan report has output three different phases… we are now seeking quotes through our management agents to get the Phase 1 work done.
The plan gave her the technical grounding and cost estimates she needed to engage confidently with suppliers.
Going out equipped with that report puts you in a much stronger position and gives you much more confidence in having those conversations.
As a remote landlord, Helene appreciated Ecofurb’s ability to simplify the process and reduce risk when trying to find trusted retrofit installers.
We don’t live particularly close to the property anymore… so we’re reliant on our management agent. Ecofurb’s approved supply chain gives us more confidence in the process.
The plan highlighted issues she hadn’t fully considered – like the impact of insulation on existing damp problems, and the feasibility of external wall insulation given the upstairs neighbour’s constraints.
The follow-up call with the retrofit coordinator was a brilliant opportunity to dive into the detail… and understand whether it was even possible to do external wall insulation.
After Ecofurb referred Helene to Knight Frank Finance, Helene discovered she could access preferential mortgage rates by improving her EPC rating.
Doing that first phase of work could actually unlock better interest rates on further lending… I wasn’t expecting to find out anything I didn’t already know, but I came away really pleasantly surprised.
By completing just the low-cost Phase 1 measures, Helene could move her property from EPC D to C – not only meeting the proposed MEES threshold, but also opening the door to more affordable finance for future works.
Helene’s message to fellow landlords is clear: don’t wait, and don’t go it alone.
It’s a relatively small investment to make to get the report done… it gives you that baseline understanding that allows you to go out and have informed conversations with contractors.
If you’ve got no experience in retrofit or energy efficiency measures, I can imagine it would be pretty daunting… but this puts you in a much stronger position.
Whether you’re managing one property or a portfolio, Ecofurb helps you take confident, climate-conscious steps toward compliance and long-term value.
With MEES regulations tightening and EPC C becoming the new standard for rental properties, landlords need to act now to avoid future penalties, protect their investments, and retain good tenants.
Helene’s story shows how Ecofurb supports landlords at every stage of the retrofit journey – from understanding the property’s condition, to planning works, to unlocking finance and finding trusted suppliers.
From start to finish, it exceeded all my expectations.
Ecofurb Plans can give landlords the clarity, confidence, and compliance guidance they need – not only to meet Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, but to go above and beyond.
We check that all our partners hold the right accreditations for the work they do, and will advise you on what is appropriate.
This includes any required industry standards, and normally includes TrustMark registration. Our renewable energy generation installers are MCS certified.
For most grant-funded work, or if you request it, we and our contractors can work to government PAS (Publicly Available Specification) 2035.