Potential legal changes among recommendations to improve energy efficiency

London Councils have published a new report which offers advice for leaseholders, especially those in flats, to make energy savings.

According to figures from the cross-party group, London is home to most leaseholder properties in the country, with 36% of all houses and 62% of flats occupied by renters.

Against this backdrop, it’s no wonder organisations are working to make homes more energy efficient and affordable, especially during the current climate.

In the report, experts outlined a number of recommendations for wider policy reforms that will both help renters and authorities looking to delivery energy saving measures. These include:

• Establishing a clearer framework for freeholder and leaseholder collaboration with an aim to helping recover costs and minimise financial pressures.
• Outlining clearer guidance on leaseholder caps as London boroughs have previously received conflicting legal advice.
• Adjusting funding schemes to make work on leasehold homes more successful. Funding schemes that have already been introduced aren’t giving councils enough time to complete the leasehold consultation process.
• Urging the government to prioritise legal timelines when allocating councils funding to complete energy saving schemes such as installing heat pumps.

‘Making it easier for leaseholders to carry out improvements to their homes is an important issue for London – more than a third of all homes in the city are owned by leaseholders, including 62% of flats,’ Cllr Keiran Williams, London Councils executive member for climate, transport and environment said. ‘We also have 379,000 households living in fuel poverty in London, partly due to the number of cold and poorly insulated homes in the capital. This is damaging people’s health and eating into people’s incomes.’

To give context, separate findings show almost two and a half million London homes could benefit from wall insulation and over one million have inadequate loft insulation.

‘[The] report sets out clear recommendations for how councils can accelerate delivery of energy saving measures for leasehold properties, making it easier for leaseholders to make their homes greener and warmed,’ Cllr Williams added.

‘With 31% of London’s carbon emissions coming from domestic buildings, not only will these improvements lower energy bills, but they will play a vital role in achieving our goal to reduce carbon emissions across the capital.’

The full report from London Councils can be accessed here.

Photo by Flavio Vallone via UnSplash

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