Tenants should be allowed to claim rent back if their landlord doesn’t meet new energy efficiency standards, according to Generation Rent.

The group says allowing renters to claim a Rent Repayment Order if their home doesn’t reach an EPC C from 2030 (unless the home is exempt) would encourage them to hold landlords who don’t meet the new regulations to account, reducing pressure on council enforcement teams.

In its new report; Raising standards, not rents: Making energy efficiency work for private renters, it says the huge demand for rented homes and years of government inaction on the issue mean landlords have had very little incentive to retrofit homes, knowing that if a tenant complains about mould, damp or high energy bills, they can easily find a new tenant.

“Landlords have consistently shown that they will not make energy efficiency improvements unless forced to do so,” adds chief executive Ben Twomey. “Landlord lobbyists have long claimed that they will have no choice but to hike rents after retrofit work.”

Receive

Generation Rent suggests that where landlords receive a government grant or loan to fund retrofit work, renters should be protected from ‘landlord need’ evictions for two years after the work is done to prevent them from instantly cashing in on a home’s increased value.

It reckons the government should provide a long-term funding package, that is ring-fenced, to make sure councils can effectively enforce the new regulations.

National

“Limiting rent increases on a national scale will mean renters across England and Wales would be able to enjoy their warmer home and lower bills, without a sudden rent increase cancelling out their bill saving or forcing them out of the home,” it adds. “This is Generation Rent’s preferred method of regulating rents and would apply to properties regardless of their energy efficiency status, and how improvements have been paid for.”

It believes there is a direct correlation between the energy efficiency rating of a home and tribunal determinations on a ‘market rent’. “Therefore, the tribunal decision process should be amended so that, where retrofit work is funded via a government grant or loan, that value is seen as added by the tenant, not the landlord. This would prevent government-funded retrofit work enriching landlords through higher rents.”

‍