Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The BBC argues that high energy bills are a tenant rights issue, and that landlords should be forced to improve the insulation of rental properties. But the proposals will do nothing to help the tenants. Both the BBC and the UK Government are ignoring an obvious solution that could provide immediate relief in the short term.
Climate change: How can renters make their homes warmer and greener?
By Becky Morton
BBC NewsMaking older UK housing more energy efficient would be key to the country’s climate goals – but advocacy groups representing landlords and landlords say it is necessary take more action to drive improvement.
Erin Davy says: “At one point, you could have found your breath in the living room that cold.
The 29-year-old is renting a two-bedroom apartment in Melbourne, Cambridgeshire.
The permitting agent gave an estimate of around £80 a month for the electricity bill. But when she moved in, her direct debt was just under £200 a month – and over the winter her monthly bills have skyrocketed to £400 a month.
“Private housing is now too expensive for young people. Just the rent, not to mention the huge energy bill,” she said. “It was crippling.”
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Rising costs mean they have to be careful about when to turn on the heating and rarely use the living room because it’s difficult to heat.
After asking their landlord to take action, he replaced their old storage fireplaces with newer models – but it didn’t help. The problem is that the apartment doesn’t seem to be kept warm at all.
As a converted house, the building is poorly insulated, especially the floors and walls.
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But if the landlord refuses to act, you can ask your local council to conduct an inspection. Councils are responsible for enforcing home health and safety standards, and if they discover serious damping or heating problems, they can force homeowners to make improvements.
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However, Generation Rent research shows that many renters are reluctant to claim or invest in improvements because they are unsure if they will live in a home long enough to benefit from cheaper bills. .
Others may worry that if their landlord pays to improve, they may increase their rent to cover the cost or even evict them.
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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59223081
It’s easy to say that houses should be better insulated, but a lot of homes in the UK are not insulated – there are places in the UK where the ground is so wet that any disruption of the airflow in the buildings. Hollow walls cause serious wetness problems.
Undoubtedly, there are some extremely workable remedies in such cases, such as raising the house a few feet above the ground so that the airflow is completely unobstructed below, but Building a really old house is not a cheap solution. There is a real possibility that any serious structural disturbance to an old home will simply cause it to fall into disrepair. You just don’t spend that kind of money or take that kind of risk with a rental home, the idea is to make money, not spend all your rental income on compliance.
The BBC article also mentions that the government is planning to increase tenant rights, to make it harder for landlords to evict tenants who overestimate government regulations on isolating properties, but this will not help. What are the benefits for tenants? Landlords who don’t want to comply will simply oversell, and the rental market will only get worse.
The obvious solution, the relief Boris Johnson’s government can provide to young people with low-income renters in the short term, is to restart Britain’s coal fleet and remove energy regulations. renewables distort the market, to reduce electricity prices. That way, young tenants can feel warm regardless of the quality of the insulation in their rental property.
But BoJo is too busy fighting climate change, to take care of young, low-income Britons.
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