A petition on the House of Commons website demanding all tenures to be treated the same as private rental properties when it comes to energy efficiency, has attracted only a tiny level of support.

In January Mark Thompson, a private landlord, created the petition under the title: “Apply the same energy efficiency legislation to all property – not just rentals.”

But as of early yesterday evening it had secured fewer than 25 signatures. 

The petition followed news that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband was introducing legislation meaning private landlords wouls have to ensure the EPCs for their properties reached a C rating or better, by 2030.

The petition wants the new EPC target to be applied to owner occupiers as well as landlords – and if that’s not possible, the legislation should be scrapped.

It reads: “The UK government has announced plans to significantly increase energy efficiency standards for privately rented properties. Owner-occupied properties would not be required to meet the same requirements, which we think creates an unfair and illogical situation from an environmental standpoint.

“We urge the UK government to introduce a level playing field by applying the same energy efficiency standards to both privately rented and owner-occupied properties.

“We believe that a fair and equitable approach to improving energy efficiency with the same standards is applied across the board. We think it is illogical from an environmental point of view to only apply the rules to the private rental sector.”