Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that houses with multiple occupation that are let on a room-by-room basis are not exempt from minimum energy efficiency standards.

The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015 require that, from April 2018, domestic and non-domestic private landlords ensure their properties have a minimum energy efficiency rating of E at the point at which they issue a new tenancy, or renewing or extending an existing one.

The domestic regulations apply to all private rented dwellings which are legally required to have an EPC, and where the tenants are on assured tenancies under the Housing Act 1988, regulated tenancies under the Rent Act 1977 or certain types of agricultural tenancy. The minimum standard will apply where a building has an EPC and only part of the building is let (such as on an individual room basis) on an applicable tenancy.

The Department is currently developing guidance documents to assist landlords in complying with their obligations under the regulations, and to support enforcement authorities in fulfilling their duties.