Big rise in energy efficiency of private rented homes says government

The latest English Housing Survey shows a dramatic rise in the energy efficiency of private rental property.

Some 38 per cent of homes in the private rented sector and 36 per cent of owner occupied homes were in EPC bands A to C in 2019 - that’s up from 13 per cent and eight per cent respectively in 2009.

The English Housing Survey is a national survey of housing conditions and energy efficiency in England. This new data, just released, provides the findings from the 2019-20 survey.

Social rented homes remain the most energy efficient, though there have been marked improvements across all tenures in the last decade.

In 2019, social rented homes were generally the most energy efficient (61 per cent in bands A to C, up from 23 per cent in 2009).

The survey claims that across all tenures, over two thirds of homes with lower energy efficiency, of D or below, could be brought up to band C for a cost of less than £10,000.

It would cost less than £10,000 to improve over two thirds of dwellings (69 per cent) to a band C, and about £15,000 or more to improve 11 per cent of dwellings.

Owner occupiers were found to be more likely to have a boiler system with radiators and gas central heating than renters. Half of dwellings with heat pumps were also owner occupied.

Some 99 per cent of English homes have a boiler system with radiators as their main heating system - however only 83 per cent of private rental properties have this.

Dwellings in the private rented sector were more likely to have room heaters as their main heating system compared with all other tenures whereas social rented dwellings were more likely to have communal heating than other tenures.

Of the 103,000 dwellings that had a heat pump in 2019, half were owner occupied, around a quarter were owned by housing associations, and 16 per cent were owned by local authorities. The remaining 11 per cent were in the private rented sector.

Over three quarters of households had not changed their electricity or gas supplier or tariff in the last 12 months. Owner occupiers were more likely to report switching suppliers or tariffs than renters.