Warm Arm of the Law

We’re always delighted to publish guest blogs and to share the thoughts and ideas of our colleagues and associates.  This time, it’s the turn of Kelly Greer, Research Director at the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE).  Here she reflects on the publication of a new Ebico Trust-funded report from ACE and CAG consultants which looks at the extent to which the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) are being proactively implemented and enforced by local authorities across England and Wales.

In 2008, while working at Impetus Consulting, the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes commissioned Emma Jones and I to research and write a report on HHSRS.  As the report details, although HHSRS had given local authorities the power to enforce minimum housing standards related to Excess Cold, the powers were not being used nearly as widely or effectively as they could be.  The opportunity to tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions at very little cost to the tax payer was not being realised, and there remained great potential for more proactive use of HHSRS.  And here my passion for tackling fuel poverty in the PRS was born…

My joint working with Emma on this topic continued during my time at National Energy Action (NEA) when we published ‘HHSRS: Your power to warm homes in the private rented sector’ and the accompanying toolkit. Again, we highlighted that HHSRS had the potential – and we showcased some great local action where councils were leading the way – but HHSRS was still not being used nearly as widely or effectively as it could be.

Fast forward to 2018.  HHSRS has been joined by MEES,  and ACE and CAG Consultants (where Emma is now a Partner) have just published ‘The Warm Arm of the Law: Tackling fuel poverty in the private rented sector’, one of two outputs from an Ebico Trust funded research project looking at the extent to which HHSRS and MEES are being proactively implemented and enforced by local authorities across England and Wales.

Unsurprisingly, the headline finding is that local authorities are not doing enough to enforce minimum energy efficiency standards in the PRS. But, quite frankly, who can blame them. In the wake of budget cuts, local authorities have reduced spending on enforcement activity by a fifth between 2009/10 and 2015/16 and key stakeholders expect this trend to continue as further planned cuts in public expenditure start to bite.  Those we interviewed as part of the project frequently referenced ongoing budget cuts and a lack of resources within local authorities, together with growing responsibilities as HMO licensing expands and MEES are introduced.  And at the same time, the number of people living in privately rented homes is ever increasing.

The PRS has grown by over 40% in the last ten years and now makes up 20.5% of the housing market in England, compared to just 10% in 1999. And there has been a similar increase in Wales. Figures for urban areas are higher and it is widely accepted that this tenure will continue to expand.

Fuel poverty continues to be a major problem and is particularly acute in the PRS, with an estimated 21.3% of PRS households thought to be in fuel poverty in England, and 36% in Wales. Compared with other tenures, the PRS in England has the largest proportion of energy inefficient F and G rated properties and a staggering 45.7% of PRS households living in such properties are in fuel poverty.

Research from the Building Research Establishment highlights that cold related illness amongst people living in privately rented properties costs the NHS over £35 million per year - a figure I would say is conservative.  Increasing the energy efficiency of PRS properties is therefore key to reducing fuel poverty and limiting the impact on the NHS. However, achieving this in the PRS has been historically challenging; there is little incentive for landlords to invest in the energy efficiency of their properties given that it is their tenants who will benefit from reduced energy bills. It has long been recognised that minimum standards are key to achieving improvements in this sector.

We found mixed views from stakeholders about how useful HHSRS is in terms of improving energy efficiency and reducing fuel poverty in the PRS. Many stakeholders reported that Excess Cold is the most common hazard that comes up in their HHSRS inspection activities. Some considered that HHSRS is a useful and versatile tool, good at dealing with major problems and which, in extreme circumstances where there is imminent risk, can be used to prohibit the use of all or part of a dwelling.

Will the introduction of MEES help to encourage further action? While some stakeholders considered the introduction of the MEES regulations as a positive step, recognising that the legislation is a world first in terms of introducing minimum standards, we heard mixed views about whether MEES is likely to be effective without amendment and the resources for more robust enforcement.  There is also a lack of clarity on how MEES and HHSRS could work together.

We have identified a number of recommendations around improving the implementation and enforcement of HHSRS and MEES, for government (national, regional and local), landlords and their representatives, tenant advice services and the energy efficiency sector. Priority recommendations include:

1. National government needs to ensure that local government is adequately resourced to proactively implement both MEES and HHSRS and could offer guidance and advice on how these services can be implemented as cost effectively as possible.
2. Local government needs to develop a joined-up approach to implementing HHSRS and MEES.  National government could assist by issuing guidance and examples of how best to do this.
3. National government should work with the energy efficiency sector to build the evidence base around the potential benefits to landlords of having highly efficient properties, including reduced rent arrears, reduced void periods and increased rental and asset value. 
4. National Government should continue to restate the long-term trajectory of the MEES regulations to help landlords understand their long-term requirements and to support the delivery of whole house retrofit approaches, thus minimising disruption for tenants and avoiding multiple interventions by landlords.

There is great potential for both HHSRS and MEES to be effectively implemented and doing so will not only improve the lives of tenants living in some of the worst properties in the country, it will also offer significant economic and wider societal benefits to the UK, including reducing the burden on the NHS, improved productivity and a reduction in carbon emissions.

This is an excerpt from a longer blog that has been published in full on the ACE website. Let us know what you think via Twitter at @ecogreer, @uk_ace and @se2_rachael.

The outputs from the research project  include a policy report and a toolkit. The policy report, aimed at policy makers, industry and wider stakeholders, highlights the opportunities to increase energy efficiency and reduce fuel poverty in the PRS, detailing current practice, where there are barriers and what is needed to overcome these, while the toolkit provides practical advice for local authorities on how to ensure they are realising the full potential of the energy efficiency legislation already in place.