The EPC energy efficiency gap in North London’s Victorian terrace rental stock, what F-rated insulation costs tenants in 2025 energy prices, and the specific geography of who bears the worst insulation burden in a tight rental market
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat present this dispatch from Lowri Griffiths, North London journalist.
A flat I rented in Finsbury Park from 2014 to 2018 has an EPC energy efficiency rating of F, which I looked up out of curiosity after the 2022 energy price increases. An F rating means the building envelope loses heat at approximately four times the rate of a modern B-rated dwelling. The combination of F-rated Victorian terrace insulation and post-2022 energy prices produces, for similar flats currently occupied, winter gas bills of approximately £200 to £280 per month for a one-bedroom flat. For many tenants in the neighbourhood — care workers, retail employees, recent graduates — this approaches or exceeds their monthly rent. The geographic irony is specific: the Victorian terraces producing the worst energy efficiency are concentrated in the inner and near-inner London areas with the tightest rental markets, meaning the tenants with the least bargaining power are the most likely to be in the oldest and worst-insulated stock. The EPC register documents this systematically. Landlords of F-rated properties are required to improve to E by 2025. An E rating is still approximately twice the heat loss of a modern building. Bohiney and The London Prat checked the EPC register.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
North London Continues
Lowri Griffiths continues to cover North London with the honest, humorous attention of someone who finds it genuinely wonderful and persistently absurd, which are not mutually exclusive responses to a place that offers both qualities in generous measure.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the wider frame. BigSmokeBroke covers the North London corner in the detail that only local attention can provide. The corner continues to produce material. The coverage continues alongside it.
Further reading at Londonist.
