Stop landlords 'cashing in' on EPC upgrade grants, urges Labour MP

A Labour MP has urged the government to stop landlords from 'cashing in' on retrofit grants.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy (main image) warns that renters won’t be protected from rent hikes or evictions when their home increases in value following energy efficiency improvements - delivered with public money.

Writing for The Labour List, she explains: “When I tabled a parliamentary question on this issue, the energy minister cited protections within the Renters’ Rights Bill as sufficient to prevent this.

"But Generation Rent’s polling found nearly seven in ten private renters have never heard of the First-Tier Tribunal. Meanwhile, less than one in five would be ‘very likely’ to challenge a rent increase.”

The MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill says that while the latest English Private Landlord Survey found that only around a third of landlords who rent out homes with poor energy efficiency ratings plan to improve them, the National Residential Landlords Association is already briefing that landlords will be looking to recoup the cost of investment in energy efficiency improvements by increasing rents.

More concerning

“This issue is even more concerning where landlords receive government grants to make improvement works, means-tested based on their tenants’ lower income,” says Ribeiro-Addy.

“I heard one story of a family whose landlord had substantial energy efficiency upgrades installed with support from a grant. Once the upgrades were done, the landlord hiked up the rent by £500 a month, meaning the family faced a massive shortfall between their housing benefit and the rent, ultimately leading to their eviction.”

She has previously tabled an Early Day Motion calling on the government to strengthen protections for renters as part of its Warm Homes Plan, with a focus on instances where public money is used.

“This could easily be achieved through some simple amendments to the Renters’ Rights Bill, but unfortunately the government recently rejected an amendment from Baroness Jenny Jones which would have given renters stronger protections against rent hikes when a landlord receives a grant.”