The Resolution Foundation has urged the government not to relax its target deadlines for improved energy efficiency in the private rental sector.

It is thought that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is set to scrap its previously proposed deadline of 2025 for newly-let rentals to achieve an energy performance rating of at least C, and a deadline of 2028 for all other rented properties.

The daily Telegraph claims the government is set to announce that all rental properties will have to reach the minimum standard by 2028.

But the Resolution Foundation, in a new report looking at wall quality, says: “Families across Britain will continue to face cold winters and higher energy bills until the nation’s housing stock is properly insulated.  While the number of homes with walls rated ‘average’ or above efficiency has increased since 2012, renters continue to be left out as more than half have inadequately insulated walls.

“Poor quality walls are also more common in less affluent parts of the country, imparting higher energy costs on those less likely to cope with them.

“England’s homes have as large a carbon footprint as out petrol and diesel powered cars, and finding a way of decarbonising millions of dwelling without burdening poorer households with high costs remains an urgent policy task for the decade ahead.

“To spur homeowners and landlords into action, the government should require all homes – including those owned as rental properties – to be energy efficiency by 2025.

“This should be combined with new means-tested support for around half of households to help with at least some of the costs of the upgrades.”