Fuel Poverty in the Private Rental Sector

“This Assembly notes that London has the highest number of private rented sector (PRS) tenants in the country and that private tenants are particularly at risk of fuel poverty.

Fuel poverty has a profound impact on the health of an estimated million households that are unable to sufficiently heat their homes – an estimated 9,000 people in the UK died last winter as a result of living in a cold home^[1]. The Mayor’s Draft Fuel Poverty Action Plan for London estimates that between 2011 and 2016 there were 1,300 to 4,000 Excess Winter Deaths in London where the inability to heat homes adequately may have been a contributory factor^[2]. This is unacceptable.

We welcome the Government’s announcement that from April 2019 Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) will prohibit private landlords from renting properties with energy performance certificates below band E in England and Wales. We also welcome the recent Government proposal to remove the existing ‘no cost to the landlord’ exemption and introduce a ‘landlord funding contribution’ component where a landlord is unable to obtain suitable ‘no cost’ funding.

The Government intends to introduce a cap of £2,500 on the amount any landlord would need to invest on an individual property. However, to ensure this urgent social and environmental work is carried out as soon as possible, a coalition of civil society partners is calling on the government to increase the cap to £5,000 per property. A higher cap would further increase the value of the property and lead to greater savings for residents.

The Assembly notes that the Government’s own assessment warned that the lower cap means only 139,200 households in England and Wales will benefit from better insulation by April 2020. That is 121,000 fewer than if the cap was at £5,000. By definition, the properties that cannot reach band E under the £2,500 cost cap will be the worst-performing ones, leaving the most vulnerable unprotected.