New research debunks 'draughty' claims about privately rented homes

Homes within the private rented sector aren’t the poor relation portrayed by tenant groups when it comes to energy efficiency, according to new figures.

While Generation Rent says private renters in England are more likely than people living in other tenures to be living in the least energy efficient homes, the latest report from Nationwide reveals that 48% of properties in the private rented sector have an EPC rated A to C, which is broadly similar to the owner occupier sector, with 49% rated A to C.

Energy efficiency has improved across the entire housing stock thanks to the higher efficiency ratings of newly built properties and the improvements carried out on many existing homes, such as loft and cavity wall insulation.

However, there is still a low take up of green technologies such as air source heat pumps, with only 276,000 homes in England using them as the primary heating system (1.1% of total stock). There’s a much wider uptake of solar panels, with 1.5 million homes in England having them installed – nearly 6% of total stock.

Ballooned?

Nationwide also reveals that the private rented sector hasn’t ballooned in recent years, as some reports have suggested. “Over the past decade, the total housing stock in England has increased by 2.1 million dwellings (9%) to 25.4 million (in 2023),” says senior economist Andrew Harvey (pictured).

“Of the total, 16.3 million dwellings (64% of the total) are owner occupied, while 4.9 million (19%) are privately rented, with the remaining 4.2 million (16%) in the social rented sector (local authority or housing association).”

It says there has been relatively little change in the overall composition of the stock by property type, although flats now account for a higher proportion of privately rented homes – 42% of the stock – up from 38% in 2013.

Nationwide adds that 87% of owner-occupied properties in England have at least one spare bedroom, with 53% classified as being under-occupied - with two or more spare bedrooms. In the private rented sector, only 16% of properties are under-occupied.