The Generation Rent campaign has criticised the current government for failing to increase energy efficiency standards in the private rental sector.
A statement from the group notes what it calls “the lack of update from the government [in its latest energy strategy announcements] about proposals to increase minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector.”
It goes on to say: “Private renters are more likely to be in fuel poverty than social tenants and owner occupiers but government plans to insulate their homes have been gathering dust for more than two years now.
“The strategy was a missed opportunity to give landlords a timeline to bring homes up to standard, but everyone is still in the dark, and renters face more winters in damp, draughty homes.
“The government should use this time to decide how to speed up the retrofit of private rented homes once new rules are in place. For example, grants are available for low income households but renters can’t be expected to apply for them if their landlord can simply raise the rent or evict them to cash in on the upgraded property.”
The government’s energy strategy, announced at the end of last week, includes these measures:
- Carbon Capture Usage and Storage – The first projects will be announced to progress to the next stage of the negotiations to rollout the first Carbon Capture clusters. The round for areas to apply for two additional future clusters has also been launched and there will be an opportunity for further projects to be added to the first two clusters.
- Kickstarting investment into the UK’s floating offshore wind industry by launching a £160m fund to support port infrastructure projects.
- Backing the first tranche of new green hydrogen production projects under the £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund.
- Opening the fifth round of the UK’s scheme to incentivise investment in renewable electricity, backed by a budget of £205m.
- Announcing Great British Nuclear, with its first job to launch a new competition to select the best Small Modular Reactor technologies for development by autumn.
- Speeding up the planning process by, in the government’s words, “reforming the planning process to enable the building of more energy infrastructure including solar power and offshore wind projects more quickly.”
- Investing more than £380m into boosting EV charging points and infrastructure .
- Reducing reliance on fossil fuels to heat our buildings – a new £30m Heat Pump Investment Accelerator is designed to leverage £270m private investment to boost manufacturing and supply of heat pumps in the UK.
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Generation Rent this week announced that Ben Twomey would take over as director in mid-June.
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A 5 minute google search destroys the whole green agenda myth
Co2 is actually beneficial not harmful and the biggest contributor are the oceans , good luck taxing them into oblivion
I’m sure Labour will impose a windfall tax on the ocean.
Oh George, you're little posts always give me a good laugh in the morning!! Did you also object to seat-belts in cars, speed limits outside schools and food safety standards in the cafes you eat in? All a bit 'Nanny State'. Generation Rent has a point - every pound that our tenants spend on gas in an energy wasteful house/flat is a pound that they don't have left to pay the rent or afford an inflationary rent increase. A domestic EPC is a straightforward Running Cost Calculation (nothing to do with carbon emissions). I'm told that our civil servants chose this methodology back in 2008 because folk worried more about energy bills rather than CO2 - I don't think its actually changed some 15 years laters. The required once every 10 years £75 domestic EPC certificate never claimed to solve a climate emergency or reduce adult obesity - but it does show a tenant or owner occupier if they will be living in fuel poverty or not. Anyway, I've gradually sorted my domestic rentals and got them all up to EPC Grade C - so I'm already MEES 2025/28 Compliant. I even had a tenant thank me for the work I'd organised on the flat she rents when my builder added Recticel Instafit insulation panels to the internal walls before undertaking some periodic redecoration works. Wonders will never cease!
Happy Easter holidays everyone.
I think George and a lot of the rest of us are all UK based landlords and not from Disneyland like yourself.
It’s your not you’re , Einstein
I always assumed you were a bot but even they don’t make such basic grammatical errors
Saint Martin again! Perhaps he's a chatbot?
GenRent seem to be determined to destroy the PRS. Maybe then they will realise not all tenants can buy & those that can't will be homeless without us.
Martin. I object to the 20 mph general speed limit in London to try to stop the rubbish Asphalt surface crumbling away after only 3/4 years, under the watchful eyes of Mayor Mr Khan.
I object to the extra high speed lumps that damage’s the undercarriage of the car in place to prevent me speeding at 20 mph.
I object to the millions of potholes created by cars doing 20 mph for goodness sake.
I object to the no leaves been swept rotting down into mud blocking all drainage gulley’s and main storm water pipes.
I object to the ponding / road flooding every time it rains saturating the road and sub-structure further adding to road break up costing billions well done Mr Khan.
I object to unnecessary ULEZ expansion out to M25 by Mr Khan with no mandate.
I object to Housing Secretary Mr Michael Gove’s unfairer
Renting. I object to the Removal of Section 21. I object to the Removal of Privately owned property rights, privately owned and privately funded, not belong to the State. I object to the the one sided licensing Schemes. I object to Section 24 etc ……………
I object to the high Rents commanded by the New Rise tower Blocks that has mushroomed in every City owned by Institutions and big Developers, for example a one bed Flat in Greenford and Wembley is £2’200. per month + costs, would they like to cap those or is it be better to cap me for the 4 bed licensed houses I supply for £1600. pm, give me a break take off the blinkers.
''Renters face more winters in damp draughty homes'', no they don't, give notice and move to a nice warm home, yes the rent will be more, but you get what you pay for .
You can't say that! Renters are more likely to be in poverty than landlords. You should just pay out and fully insulate your properties no matter what the costs and whether it's worth you doing it. Non-paying tenants including. And don't move them out to do all the works. You have to find builders who are willing to do all of this work with them still in it. Your property is actually their property in all but name.
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