Peers in the House of Lords have expressed concerns over how the Green Deal – due to be implemented this October – could affect private landlords and their tenants.
Opposition whip Lord Grantchester said it could introduce a ‘two tier market’, with some homes becoming difficult to let or sell.
He said that this could be a result of the way the Green Deal charges are set to work, with landlords able to get loans up-front to improve their properties, but with tenants repaying the loan via their utility bills.
Lord Grantchester said that the higher bills might be unacceptable, either to the present occupier who might leave as a result, or to future occupiers.
He said: “Private landlords are concerned that they would be left with the bill and no tenant.”
He asked the Government to allow landlords to be able to repay the Green Deal charges directly themselves, ‘to avoid tenant resistance’.
From 2018, properties with an Energy Performance Certificate rating of below E will be banned from the rental market, and from 2016, tenants will have the legal right to demand energy efficiency improvements.
Lord Grantchester said: “The private rented sector is hard to engage with and the cost of improving these properties is likely to be greater than anticipated. Improvement works may be more problematic with 40% of housing having been built pre-1920 and 20% of tenants being assessed as living in fuel poverty.
“The whole edifice of the Green Deal looks precarious around these difficulties.”
Labour peer Lord Whitty also thought it might be more efficient for the Green Deal to be delivered via landlords.
Replying for the Government, Lord Marland conceded that ‘in the private sector things are not going as we hoped’.
The Residential Landlords Association is lobbying for landlords to be able to access Green Deal finance but repay the loan themselves.
.jpg)
.png)
Comments