Private tenants across England are paying higher energy bills than home owners, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has said.
In a new report into how dwelling types and lifestyles can affect energy expenditure, the RICS says that private tenants pay £31 more a year than home owners, and £90 more than tenants living in social housing.
The RICS says that those who own their own property are more likely to effectively insulate and modernise heating facilities than private landlords, and says there is a lack of incentives for private landlords to make improvements.
Households with an electric heater can pay between £196 to £898 more a year than households with gas central heating, and is the single highest contributing factor to energy expenditure.
Jeremy Blackburn, RICS head of UK policy, said: “Those renting privately should expect the same standards in insulation and heating as home owners and those in social housing. More needs to be done to ensure private rental property is fit for purpose and energy efficient.
“It is important that the Green Deal effectively addresses this at a time when tenants across the country are struggling with high fuel bills and increasing rents.
“RICS welcomes the Green Deal as a new way of financing energy efficiency improvements, but it is vital that tenants understand exactly what measures are being taken, why, and what the impact on any measures will have on their energy bills.
“A mandatory Home Condition Report before the installation of all Green Deal measures would be a low-cost way of providing the consumer with a clear understanding of this.”
The research was commissioned by the RICS and conducted by the School of Built Environment at Heriot-Watt University.
http://www.rics.org/site/scripts/download_info.aspx?downloadID=8697&fileID=11952
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Comments
Bet the tenants leave the heating on longer than the social housing tenants. As it says below (the first comment) what twaddle and more to the point who gives a rats.
I need a bell on my desk to ring and lookup and say 'Next please'.
RICS dimwit - get a life.
The new style EPC is required for a Green Deal application, not a Home Condition Report. The Green Deal is perfect for a landlord, who can install various energy saving bits and bobs, listed in The Golden Rule, with no upfront cost, paid back over 25 years, through the electric meter. And who pays the electric bill? Details will be announced any moment. Letting agents need to fully understand The Green Deal and the best person to advise you, ahead of the official announcements, is your energy assessor. Of course, if you chose to order your EPCs through cheap panels, you won't get any help from them. You get what you pay for! However, if you deal directly with a local assessor, they will know all about this, because they have just taken an exam, based on the Green Deal. As an energy assessor, I spoke to my agents weeks ago.
"“A mandatory Home Condition Report before the installation of all Green Deal measures would be a low-cost way of providing the consumer with a clear understanding of this.”"
Crikey! The RICS touting for business, whatever next!
It will stay the same post Green Deal improvements too as Landlords will recoup their loan costs by increasing the rent and the tenant will be in a net identical position as they will then be paying lower energy bills (in theory if the DEA etc benefit calculations are corect)
A story for a £30 difference per year? Tenants often don't adjust their hot water systems and central heating, this would explain the small difference.
What a load of twaddle from RICS! Most rented properties have gas central heating with the exception being modern blocks of flats where gas is not installed. These flats are usually double glazed and insulated.
The best way forward is to register all landlords and their properties so a true picture can be obtained of what is available on the rental market.
This is just another press release to promote RICS,