Proposals to give home tenants the right to request their landlords to carry out energy efficiency improvements from 2016 have just been published.

The Government is warning landlords those rented properties that have the lowest energy efficiency performance will be stopped from being let. The only way that landlords can reverse the action is if the properties are improved to an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of Band E.

These new proposals form part of the DECC’s strategy to combat fuel poverty i.e. those households who are on low incomes but with excessive energy costs because of the state of the property.

The DECC stats claim that one in ten rented homes have the lowest energy efficiency rating and that almost 20% of the homes come under the fuel poverty guidelines. According to the department this is nearly twice as much as the national average.

In some circumstances some properties that fall below an E rating will be allowed to be rented out after 2018. However this is only if the landlords have used all of the available funding to improve their properties, which still fail to reach the required minimum standard.

The new proposals state that there will be legislation  passed to ensure that as many fuel poverty stricken homes “as reasonably practicable”, to be raised to a Band E energy efficiency rating by 2020, Band D by 2025 and Band C by 2030.

DECC says that on average a typical Band C home could pay less than £1,000 on their energy bills than a Band F or G rated home.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “These proposals mark a radical shift away from old policies of tinkering at the edges without tackling the root causes of fuel poverty – homes that need too much energy and leak too much heat to be able to keep warm.”

The Government will also be extending  the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) to March 2017. Its minimum target is for 100,000 solid wall insulation jobs to be carried out, despite the recently announced cuts to funding.