The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has warned that renters in the capital with draughty, leaky properties could be facing higher energy bills for years to come, after the government abandoned plans to ensure private landlords make homes more energy efficient.
Proposals to improve energy efficiency of homes in the rental sector were revealed in 2021, which said all new tenancies must have an EPC rating of C or better by 2025 and existing tenancies should comply by 2028.
These proposals were scrapped in September as part of the Prime Minister’s review of green policies, which included an overhaul of measures designed to meet net zero targets.
City Hall analysis of the government-commissioned English Housing Survey has found 494,000 private rental properties currently have an EPC rating of band D or below in London.
Combining analysis of the English Housing Survey with national data on energy consumption and current energy prices reveals that London rented homes rated D or lower cost an average of £337 a year extra to heat compared to homes rated C or above — an unwelcome extra expense when so many private tenants are facing increasing rents and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
The Mayor is particularly concerned about the negative impacts this hike in energy bills could have on low-income and vulnerable Londoners, including the elderly.
Landlords can increase a property’s EPC rating by upgrading lighting, adding wall and loft insulation, investing in double or triple-glazed windows, installing a new boiler, or simply signing up for a smart meter.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The situation for many renters in London and across the country is increasingly bleak, with rents soaring and other costs increasing.
“A key thing ministers could have done is helped renters with energy efficiency. Scrapping plans for tougher standards is frankly shameful, and will just lead to even higher bills.
“Actively deciding to condemn thousands of renters to draughty, inefficient, expensive homes is letting down renters, and this is on top of delays to banning so-called ‘no fault evictions’.
“Ministers should give cities like London the powers to freeze rents, but also urgently reinstate plans to ensure every renter lives in an energy efficient home.”
Ben Twomey, CEO at Generation Rent, said: “The Prime Minister’s cancellation of plans to raise minimum energy efficiency standards means that landlords now have no obligation to agree to any insulation works, even if they are funded by government grants.
“This reckless political choice is leaving more tenants suffering in cold and draughty homes that are damaging our health and draining our wallets.
“With rents through the roof and private tenants facing this premium on our energy bills, we share the Mayor of London's call for the government to stand by its old promises and demand that landlords improve poor quality homes."
