The number of private tenants in properties that are hard to heat has fallen, a council claims.

As agents will know private rented homes are required to have an EPC rating of E or above and Bath & North East Somerset Council trading standards officers have identified domestic properties in B&NES that that had an EPC below that level.

Landlords letting private sector domestic accommodation below that legal minimum were required to make improvements to lift the EPC to E or above, or face a fine of up to £5,000 per property, unless they had an exemption registered.

Where properties fell short, the landlords were issued with Compliance Notices and now improvements have been completed in over 70 properties. 

The council claims the introduction of energy efficiency measures has resulted in a fall in annual energy costs of an average £388 per property and enabled the saving of over 125.7 tonnes of CO2 across the district.

Councillor Tim Ball, cabinet member for Neighbourhood Services, says: “With the cost of energy rising rapidly it is important for tenants in private rented accommodation to know that their property is fuel efficient. 

“The campaign helped us to raise awareness of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulations amongst landlords, letting agents and tenants and to identify properties that did not have an EPC of at least band E.

“The success of this campaign is a positive step towards improving the energy efficiency of homes in our area and, as domestic properties produce around 40% of carbon emissions in our district, it will help towards our target of net zero emissions by 2030.”

The compliance and enforcement project was funded by a grant from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in partnership with the Midlands Energy Hub.