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Green target delay will lead to higher bills for tenants

Low-income tenants will face higher energy bills as a result of the government’s decision to scrap plans to force private landlords to upgrade their properties to make them more energy efficient, experts have said.

The requirement for landlords to meet stricter energy efficiency standards, put out for consultation by the government two years ago, was dropped by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, on Wednesday when he announced the scrapping or delay of a range of green measures he said imposed a direct cost on tenants.

Analysts and campaigners said the plans would not help most low-income families, especially private renters struggling with the cost of living crisis. One estimate had put the cost in higher energy bills to private renters of just a two-year delay in energy efficiency targets at £1bn.

Other plans announced by Sunak include a five-year delay in a ban on new petrol or diesel cars originally slated for 2030, a slowdown in the phasing out of gas boilers scheduled for 2035, and a nine-year delay in a ban on off-grid oil boilers from 2026 to 2035.

Scrapping higher energy efficiency standards in private rented homes was expected to have the most impact on low-income households. According to the 2021 census, 5m households were renting privately in England and Wales alone, with this form of tenure expanding massively over the past two decades, up from 1.9m in 2001.

Minimum energy efficiency regulations in the private rented sector have been in place since 2018, but in 2021 the government proposed stricter standards in new tenancies from 2025 and in all tenancies from 2028, with landlords who fail to upgrade their properties facing fines. These have now been scrapped.

About 2.4m private rented properties do not meet those scrapped stricter standards. Nearly a quarter of private rented homes are classified as “non-decent” homes, with 11% reported as having problems with dampness. Around a quarter of private renters live in fuel poverty.

Clare Moriarty, the chief executive of Citizens Advice, said net-zero policies were a key part of solving the cost of living crisis. “The government’s decision to row back on these policies will particularly hurt renters, leaving millions of tenants across the country facing needlessly high bills through the winters ahead.”

Rachelle Earwaker, senior economist at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Relaxing the regulations on energy efficient homes is ill-advised and ill-considered. Tenants, who have seen their energy prices skyrocket in the past year, and are watching the renters reform bill be further delayed, may think the prime minister is more concerned about their landlord’s pocket above all.”

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