Close to half privately rented homes in England are likely to miss the 2008 deadline for achieving energy efficiency targets.
This is the conclusion reached by the letting agents’ professional body Propertymark after studying the results of the latest English Housing Survey.
This found that In 2020 most private renters lived in dwellings with an Energy Efficiency Rating falling into band of ‘D’ (45 per cent) or ‘C ‘ (39 per cent). But 10 per cent lived in dwellings with an EER falling into band ‘E’, and 4 per cent lived in dwellings with the poorest energy efficiency (EER bands ‘F’ or ‘G’).
The survey found that the spread of rented homes achieving bands ‘A’ to ‘E’ was similar to that found in owner occupied properties, but private renters were more likely than owner occupiers to live in the least energy efficient dwellings, rated ‘F’ or ‘G’.
The energy efficiency improvement costs for homes occupied by private renters were most commonly estimated to fall between £5,000 and £9,999.
But, said Propertymark, in the eight years to 2020, the number of private rented homes with a ‘C’ rating had only risen from 19 per cent to 39 per cent. If that rate of increase continues until 2028, only 60 per cent of private rented homes will by then have achieved the ‘C’ rating.
‘The new UK Government should take heed of this projected shortfall if it is serious about net zero. This is against the backdrop of the huge sums of money it has had to commit in the short term to help householders with their rising bills amid the cost-of-living crisis’, said Propertymark.
It is calling for the UK Government to move away from ‘a one-size-fits-all policy’ in favour of energy efficiency proposals that consider a property’s age, condition, and size rather than its tenure.
‘Our Lagging Behind report highlights the variances in retrofitting costs based on individual characteristics and regional property values. It includes proposals for local councils to develop ‘one-stop shops’ to engage with landlords to find suitable methods to facilitate retrofit at a pace which has also been recommended by stakeholders such as the Local Government Association’.
