More than one in four in rental accomodation live in fuel poverty, more than in any other housing type, said the report by think tank E3G.

Homes can now only be rented out if they meet a minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of E.

In 2020, the government consulted on plans to raise this minimum standard to EPC C from 2025 for new tenancies and 2028 for existing tenancies.

These new standards would help the government meet its legally binding fuel poverty and net zero targets, E3G said.

And rising energy prices have made the situation more urgent, the think tank added.

E3G: Almost a million properties are not ‘decent homes’

E3G noted that two-thirds of privately rented homes do not meet the government’s target energy efficiency level and almost a million rented properties would not meet the legal definition of a “decent home”.

The proposals on changing minimum standard on EPCs has not yet been put into law so a group including National Energy Action, the Green Finance Institute and Generation Rent are urging the government to follow through.

Colm Britchfield, policy adviser at E3G said: “The poor state of many rented homes is a growing national scandal. Tenants are facing sky-high bills in part because so much energy is wasted in inefficient homes. The government has an oven-ready set of regulations to fix this – now they need to put them into law.”

Matt Copeland, head of policy and public affairs at National Energy Action, added:  “Private renters are more likely to be fuel poor than people in any other tenure, and are more likely to live in the leakiest properties, often needing to spend thousands of pounds more than the average household just to keep a healthy temperature at home.

“Tightened minimum standards are key to ensuring that all fuel poor private renters can live in a warm home.”