Chapter 6 - Housing tenure and thermal quality of homes—How home ownership affects access to energy services

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In the UK an increasing proportion of homes are privately rented, while the proportions of social rented and owner occupied homes have been falling over the past few decades. This chapter sets out to ask whether differences in energy efficiency of homes are related to or correlated with these different tenures. To this end, the chapter explores differences and similarities in the quality, age, size, energy efficiency and other characteristics of these three different housing tenures. It also relates these features to other relevant factors such as indoor temperatures; occupants' stated level of thermal comfort in their homes; landlords' attitudes and levels of experience; the take up of different types of government home improvement grants and subsidies; and the different choices of efficiency measures among each tenure. The picture turns out to be complex and some of the findings are surprising. However, if there is a single thread running through the findings it is that there are serious issues of quality in UK housing, especially in the private rented and owner occupied sectors, so that both private landlords and owner occupiers are starting from a long way back, in their efforts (or reluctance) to improve their dwellings' thermal standards. If social and economic trends continue to lead to reductions in the social housing and owner occupied sectors, the onus falls increasingly on private landlords to improve this somewhat problematic housing stock.