The Renters' Reform Coalition (RRC) has responded to the government's announcement today of the Warm Homes Plan.
Niamh Evans, Policy Officer at the RRC, said:
"We welcome the government's announcement setting out new minimum energy efficiency standards for private rented homes under the Warm Homes Plan - work to upgrade England's draughty and cold rented homes is sorely needed. The proposals we're seeing today should result in more renters living in warmer homes that are cheaper to heat.
"However, the government's choice to lower the cap on landlord spending on upgrades from £15k to £10k means many tenants stuck in some of the worst insulated homes will - quite literally - be left in the cold, as their landlords won't be required to bring them up to EPC C. Government data suggests more than one in ten rented homes fall into this gap.
"We're also concerned the government have still not set out plans to protect renters from rent increases or evictions following any upgrades linked to the scheme. It can't be right that landlords could put up rents or evict tenants to sell after using taxpayer-funded grants to upgrade their home. Unless the government provide tenants with meaningful protections they risk losing support for this important work."
NOTES:
- The Warm Homes Plan can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/warm-homes-plan
- The government have announced the maximum a private landlord will be required to spend on improving the energy efficiency of a home is £10,000. If the cost of upgrading the home to EPC C is higher than this the landlord will not be required to meet EPC C standards. This cap is a significant reduction from what the government set out last year as the maximum, which was £15,000.
- The English Housing Survey estimates 553,000 rented homes would cost more than £10,000 to upgrade to EPC band C. This represents more than one in ten of the estimated 4.9 million households in England's private rented sector, or about one in five of the 2.5 million rented homes that fall below EPC C. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annex-tables-for-english-housi…