Private sector landlords are being warned by a council to check their investments meet the legal minimum energy efficiency standard, or risk a fine up to £5,000 per property.

Bath and North East Somerset council is considering a new campaign uniting trading standards officers and housing bureaucrats to jointly identify properties that do not have an Energy Performance Certificate of band E or more.

A policy for enforcing the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property in England And Wales) Regulations 2015, which would give the council the power to issue fines, is being recommended to the council’s member for planning, Councillor Tim Ball.

If approved, the compliance and enforcement project will require landlords who let out accommodation below the legal minimum rating to make improvements and bring the homes to a rating of at least E or face a fine.

Ball says: “The council is committed to improving the health and well-being of its residents by reducing the number of people living in cold and damp conditions in homes that are hard to heat and expensive to run.

“The private rented sector makes up 27 per cent of the Bath and North East Somerset housing stock and although the majority meet the current legal minimum energy efficiency standard, we need to identify those which do not and ensure energy efficiency improvements take place. 

“This proposed project will also reduce carbon emissions by improving the energy efficiency of those homes.

“I welcome the report as it sets out a policy for the enforcement of the domestic minimum level of energy efficiency regulations.”