Wednesday 4 October 2017

Inefficiency means ‘renters overpaying by £13m a month’

Pockets of inefficient rented housing in the UK mean tenants are overpaying on energy by around £13 million every month.

That's according to a new study by insurance firm AXA, which suggests despite UK landlords generally making significant energy efficiency improvements in the last two years, as many as 200,000 homes could still be in breach of new minimum standards due to come into force next April.

The firm says these properties pose an "excess cold hazard" and could be banned by the upcoming rules.

A quarter of UK tenants told AXA they felt they were paying excess bills due to the energy inefficiency of their homes and 43% said the resultant cold and damp was the biggest problem they had to deal with.

Despite this, the number of worst-rated properties has halved and rentals are generally performing better than owner-occupied homes in terms of boiler upgrades, insulation and smart meter installations.