Living Rent calls on government to prioritise tenants and environment over landlords’ complaints

Living Rent’s response welcomed the proposed deadline for landlords to improve energy performance in PRS homes by 2033. However, it has urged the Scottish Government to ensure that any retrofits must be done ‘with’ tenants.

The response outlines that landlords are already profiting enormously from housing and shouldn’t receive any further public money. According to the union, 0% interest loans from the government for doing retrofit works that are the bare minimum is simply taxpayers’ money supporting landlords’ having greater property value. 

Crucially, Living Rent also says that there should be no exemptions for short-term let landlords, as they point out that this will incentivise landlords to convert their properties to short-term lets. They say that exempting STLs will further incentivise an unaffordable housing tenure.

Living Rent says that failing to ensure the short-term let sector is compelled to do the necessary repairs will push more landlords to jump into the short-term let sector, putting further strain on the private rented sector. They also say that there is a need to bring all the housing stock to greater energy efficiency to decrease carbon emissions in Scotland

Living Rent’s national campaigns chair, Ruth Gilbert, said: “Ensuring tenants live in energy efficient homes is absolutely necessary for both tenants and the environment but tenants should not bear the brunt of landlords improving the energy performance of their properties and our homes.

“Right now, over half of tenants’ homes fail the most basic repair standard. Our broken, freezing homes are driving up fuel poverty amongst the most vulnerable. 

“Energy efficient homes can not come soon enough. With the cost of energy still through the roof and set to rise even higher, there is a serious need for energy efficient homes to ensure that tenants conserve the heat to our homes and not the air surrounding them. 

“But crucially no landlord should be able to improve the energy efficiency of their home only to later evict their tenant by claiming that they have improved the property’s value. The government needs to introduce strict measures to ensure tenants are not hit with rent increases, evictions or threats from their landlords as a result of landlords doing these works. Landlords can not claim the rental value has increased when it is a government mandated change.”