The Resolution Foundation has told the government it has to stick to its proposed deadlines for the private rental sector’s minimum energy efficiency target.

It has been claimed that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is seriously considering scrapping its proposed deadline of 2025 for all PRS properties that have new or extended tenancies to have an EPC C rating, and for all other PRS properties to have the same rating by 2028.

The Daily Telegraph has said that the government is about to announce that all private rental properties will have to reach the minimum EPC C rating by 2028.

However in its new report on wall quality the Resolution Foundation says: “Families across Britain will continue to face cold winters and higher energy bills until the nation’s housing stock is properly insulated.  While the number of homes with walls rated ‘average’ or above efficiency has increased since 2012, renters continue to be left out as more than half have inadequately insulated walls.

“Poor quality walls are also more common in less affluent parts of the country, imparting higher energy costs on those less likely to cope with them.

“England’s homes have as large a carbon footprint as out petrol and diesel powered cars, and finding a way of decarbonising millions of dwelling without burdening poorer households with high costs remains an urgent policy task for the decade ahead.

“To spur homeowners and landlords into action, the government should require all homes - including those owned as rental properties - to be energy efficiency by 2025.