How we can save the planet

Attempts have been made to encourage private landlords to undertake energy efficiency measures, with offers of awards and accreditation and the landlords energy saving allowance – but none of these has had a noticeable effect.

Even the legislation requiring energy performance certificates goes unheeded in the private rented sector, since local authorities have shown no will to enforce compliance.

We can’t afford to give up hope of getting the three million private rented homes on the climate change map. But nor can we expect private tenants to invest their own money in insulating their home or upgrading the boiler (even if they can afford it) when they have no security of tenure and could be moved on at any time.

It is equally unrealistic to think that tenants without security of tenure can negotiate with landlords for energy saving improvements.

So what’s the solution? I’ve been talking a lot recently about the potential for the Sustainable Communities Act to give a voice to private tenants in their local communities. Given the current political uncertainties, it’s reassuring that all the main political parties appear to support the principle of devolving power to local people.

So is there a way of using the drive for sustainable communities to create environmentally sustainable private rented homes?

Well, local authorities not signed up to this ‘double devolution’ and not yet set up panels of community representatives need to be given a good prod to get on with it.

Then we need to get ideas flowing from communities that would make a real local impact. Foremost of these would, in my view, be to require local authorities to institute programmed inspections of all the private rented homes in their area, to identify energy saving measures and to enforce these. There would be few, if any, that would fall outside existing enforcement powers.

Where would the money come from? According to a Building Research Establishment report published in December, the health cost of poor housing is calculated at £600 million a year.

Using the powers under the Sustainable Communities Act, it would therefore make sense to propose that much of the budget required should come from the health authorities. And the cost of undertaking works in default when landlords ignore enforcement notices would be recouped from those landlords themselves, either directly or as a charge against their properties.

Taking localism a stage further, it would make sense for local community groups to be given direct responsibility for managing the programmed inspection and enforcement regime.

Maybe it’s now time to hand over to local communities with a vested interest in seeing improvements to the homes in their own locality.

Jacky Peacock is director of Brent Private Tenants’ Rights Group.