Councils lack capacity to enforce compliance with minimum energy-efficiency standards, warns expert

“One of the reasons for the absence of enforcement is thought to be that local authorities have been unable to locally retain any income generated from fines imposed for breaches of the minimum standards. If retained, these funds would have been able to incentivise diverting funding to enforcement action.”

Mr Hartley pointed out that the mayor of London has raised concern about the lack of MEES enforcement back in 2022.

Sadiq Khan described the regulations as “another example of powers being devolved from the government without recognition of the resources needed to use them”.

Darren Rodwell, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA), agreed that “many local enforcement teams do not currently have the resources and capacity to proactively tackle poor standards in the PRS”.

He added: “Everyone deserves a safe, decent, warm and affordable place to live, and councils do everything they can to tackle bad practice and take action, as appropriate, to raise standards in the PRS.

“The LGA will continue to work with the government to ensure that councils have the right powers, skills, capacity and resources to undertake effective enforcement activity to improve standards in the private rented sector.”

The government has provided two initial rounds of funding totalling £6.3m to support 85 local authorities in the creation of processes to aid and implement MEES.

However, Mr Hartley said: “These pilot schemes saw some authorities appoint MEES Compliance Officers to work directly with residential landlords to help ensure properties met requirements. 

“This meant helping landlords to understand their responsibilities under the regulations and advising them on funding that may be available, rather than investigating compliance and imposing fines. The pilots, however, changed very little and authorities have continued to do little, citing limited capacity and resources to enforce the rules.

“While there may be perceived benefits in devolving MEES enforcement, local authorities remain too overstretched to take on this responsibility, leading to a lack of active MEES regulation across the country. 

“While other factors may be encouraging greater sustainability in the built environment, if the government wants property owners to take the MEES regulations seriously, greater financial support and incentivisation for local authorities is needed.”

The government said it had spent more than £8m on enforcement capacity after a further £2m was allocated to an additional 25 local authorities in the 2022-23 financial year.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “It is the responsibility of local councils to enforce regulations – to date we’ve provided them with £8.4m to do so and help ensure homes are meeting the minimum energy efficiency standard.

“This is on top of the £6bn we’re spending this parliament to make homes warmer and more energy efficient, with a further £6bn up to 2028 to help around a million families save money on their energy bills.”

Rishi Sunak scrapped energy efficiency targets in September last year in an overhaul of net zero pledges dubbed “hugely disappointing” and a “colossal error” by the sector.

In a speech from Downing Street outlining a new approach to achieving net zero, the prime minister scrapped the plan for new private rental properties to have at least an EPC rating of C by 2025 and all PRS properties by 2028, saying “we will never force any household to do it”.