Landlords could be prevented by law from ‘retaliatory evictions’ of tenants who ask for energy efficiency improvements to be made to their properties.
Minister Greg Barker, in a debate in the Commons that took in the Green Deal and private rented housing, said that the Department for Energy and Climate Change “has set up a working group involving a range of key stakeholders to explore the issue of retaliatory evictions in relation to the private rented sector provisions in the Energy Bill”.
This group is due to report next month.
Under the Energy Bill, private rented homes which do not meet minimum standards of energy efficiency will be banned from the market from 2018, but Barker said that the measure could be introduced sooner.
He said: “We are committed to working with the sector to encourage uptake of the Green Deal well ahead of 2018.
“For this reason, I have been clear that I see 2018 as the ‘finishing line’ as opposed to the ‘starting line’ for this policy. However, if we do not see the sector responding well ahead of this date we could reconsider the timing and introduce regulations earlier.”
In addition to the 2018 deadline, from 2016, landlords will not be able to ‘unreasonably’ refuse consent to requests from tenants for ‘reasonable’ energy efficiency improvements, Barker confirmed.
Comments
Maybe they should consider some of these measures as a stimulus for the economy rather than the suggested injection of cash into roads, rail and broadband...
Neil, I presume you are a disgruntled landlord just seeing more hassle and cost to you, well firstly I do believe that the costs will be yours against what LinniR says as you own the house and are responsible for making changes to the property. You will also feel the benefit when re-renting your property as you will be able to show reduced fuel bills therefore having a marketing advantage.
The greenist government ever... there is plenty more where this came from I feel!
Neil - under Green Deal, the tenant pays for the work via a charge of their fuel bill. No need for our taxes to pay for any of this.
I have no problem with this as long as the Public Sector/Government pay for the work to upgrade these properties as they have done with their social housing and housing associations...... at the taxpayers expense.
As ever, the politicians do not understand the ramifications of what they are talking about and are looking for cheap headlines. What is going to be the policy on listed buildings, stone built buildings, etc? They should get the planners to talk with the building regulation department first before they bring in anymore needless legislation.
This would seem perfectly reasonable as long as the improvements were limited to low cost measures such as loft or cavity wall insulation. Higher cost measures may have a detremental effect on the number properties coming to the rental market.