The National Residential Landlords Association has demanded clarity on Labour’s proposals to force landlords to improve all private rental properties to EPC rating ‘C’ by 2030.

The target – originally set by the Conservatives but abandoned a year ago – has now been reinstated by Labour’s new Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband. In a speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool he said: “We all know that the poorest people in our country often live in cold, draughty homes. It is a Tory outrage. This government will not tolerate this injustice and we will end it.

“Because being Labour means we raise our sights to tackle injustice, we will go further and faster than promised in our manifesto: ensuring every rented home reaches decent standards of energy efficiency. Warmer homes, lower bills, over one million people lifted out of fuel poverty. That’s the difference a Labour government makes.”

Chris Norris, policy director for the National Residential Landlords Association, reacts by saying: “The NRLA wants to see all rented properties become as energy efficient as possible. However, the Government’s approach must involve a clear and comprehensive plan which recognises that the sector has some of the oldest, and hardest to improve, properties in the UK’s housing stock.

“The sector needs a clear trajectory setting out what will be expected of it and by when. This plan must also ensure sufficient numbers of tradespeople are in place to undertake the work that will be required.

“Alongside this, as the Committee on Fuel Poverty has warned, is the need for a financial package to support investment in energy efficiency measures. At present, the private rented sector is the only housing tenure without a bespoke package to support work to upgrade homes.”

According to official data, in 2022, almost 45% of private rented properties in England had an EPC rating of at least a C, more than double the rate compared to 2012.  However, a third of private rented sector homes were built before 1919, a higher proportion than any other tenure. These are among some of the hardest to improve properties of the entire housing stock.

Research suggests the UK is set to see a shortfall in the number of tradespeople grow to 250,000 by 2030 whilst the Committee on Fuel Poverty has argued that landlords could best be supported to improve the energy efficiency of rented housing, “through tax offsets for improvements, loans or potentially grants for landlords with a low profit margin in areas of low rental value.”