The highly contentious proposal of the ‘creation’ of prison sentences for landlords because of EPC property failures is now being considered by this government.

This is all part of the net zero targets which the government has promised to deliver over this decade, and now ministers want powers to ‘invent’ new criminal offences and maximise civil penalties for EPC shortcomings in the PRS.

The proposals are that anyone failing to follow the regulations required for energy efficiency of rented ‘residences’ may have the opportunity to spend one year at His Majesty’s Pleasure and face having to pay up to £15,000 in fines.

This could mean any landlords who fail to install a heat pump in a property to meet the new stricter energy efficiency rules could be facing a custodial sentence.

But there is a growing band of dissident Tory backbenchers who are concerned by the measures which are part of the government’s Energy Bill which has already passed a third reading this week, who are aghast at the thought that landlords and homeowners may become classed as criminals.

The highly contentious measure is for ‘the creation of criminal offences’ for those whose properties fail to meet the regulated energy efficiency standards.

Any owners who provide misleading information about energy efficiency ratings could face prosecution.

The Energy Bill gives powers to inspectors to able to order landlords and property owners to undertake improvements, otherwise the property cannot be rented out or sold until the required work is carried out.

Government ministers state that the increased powers are needed to change criminal offences within the existing regulations and have ‘anointed’ themselves with the authority to enforce and revamp the system.

Consultations are underway to decide upon the specific changes to come.

However many Tory MPs are loathe to hand out this new plateau of power to ministers of inventing new criminal offences because of the lack of Parliamentary scrutiny.

The leader of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group Craig Mackinlay has just tabled amendments to the Bill to remove the ‘open-ended and limitless’ powers from the legislation.

Mackinley told The Telegraph: “The Bill is festooned with new criminal offences. This is just unholy, frankly, that you could be creating criminal offences.

“The ones we’ve found most offensive are where a business owner could face a year in prison for not having the right energy performance certificate or type of building certification.

Former energy secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, told The Telegraph that the recommended  statutory instruments to introduce new criminal offences was unacceptable.

He said: “Criminal offences are an exceptional use of the state’s power and therefore require the fullest constitutional scrutiny.

“The whole Bill is about piling costs onto consumers. It’s as if Uxbridge and the vote against Ulez had never taken place.”

Some MPs are convinced that the proposed Ministers’ statutory powers could go ahead without the usual Commons approval.

A government spokesman told The Telegraph: “We have no plans to create new criminal offences, and any suggestion otherwise is untrue.