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You are here : Home » Other » Eco Guidance » EcoScope » Homes » Private rented homes are the nation’s worst ever
Private rented homes are the nation’s worst ever
According to Friends of the Earth private rented homes are the worst maintained part of the housing stock and contain large numbers of vulnerable households and those living in fuel poverty.
People living in private rented homes are over four times more likely to be living in a cold home than people living in social rented homes.
The private rented sector has a greater proportion of the most energy inefficient homes – those in Energy Performance Certificate Band G. They are twice as common in the private rented sector as in other sectors.
FoE says half the properties in the private rented sector are not considered to be of a decent standard by the Government.
20% of private rented sector households live in fuel poverty. This rises to 42% in the households living in the worst insulated (F and G rated) properties.
The health consequences of poorly insulated properties are well established.
According to the Chief Medical Officer: ‘People living in poorly heated housing live in greater danger. Old, badly insulated properties offer significantly less protection against the risks of the cold than more modern, warmer dwellings. The annual cost to the NHS of winter related-diseases due to cold housing is £859m.”
Without greater action by Government, poorly insulated and inefficiently heated private rented homes will continue to cost the UK dearly in terms of carbon emissions, poor health, fuel poverty and high energy bills.
FoE believes that tenants must be empowered through access to up to date, high quality, information about the energy performance of properties to help them make informed choices when seeking a property to rent.
All landlords must be helped and incentivised to improve their properties through targeted energy efficiency advice, a significantly increased Landlords Energy Saving Allowance tax incentive and access to the Green Deal, which must provide upfront low interest finance for the necessary energy efficiency improvements, including in hard-to-treat properties.
Landlords also need an authoritative route for reliable, appropriate information to guide them to this help. Establishing a local list of all rented properties and landlords would make this effective communication with landlords possible.
With such assistance and incentives some landlords may choose to improve their properties. However many more will not do so without greater motivation.
More information: www.foe.org
