The UK Private Rented Sector: Size, Stock and Energy Performance

The private rented sector is now one of the three main tenures in the United Kingdom and the one with the weakest energy performance. In England it accounted for 4.7 million households, or 19 per cent of all households, in 2023 to 2024¹. In Scotland, the most recent house condition survey puts 14 per cent of private rented dwellings in Energy Performance Certificate bands E, F or G, against 12 per cent of owner-occupied dwellings and around 2 per cent of social sector dwellings². Scottish Government consultation material gives the same 14 per cent figure for E, F and G rated private rented properties and states that 48 per cent of the sector is rated EPC D or lower, compared with 5 per cent of social rented properties in the lowest three bands³.

The legal floor is low. Across England and Wales, a domestic private rented property must reach an EPC rating of E or above, and a property rated F or G must be improved to at least an E before it can be let, unless a valid exemption is registered on the public exemptions register. Both governments have consulted on raising that floor to the equivalent of EPC C, in England and Wales by 2030 and in Scotland by the end of 2028, but neither requirement is yet in force.

For a household, this matters because a renter controls almost nothing that sets the bill. Fabric, heating system, glazing and controls are the landlord's property; the tenant carries the running cost. That is the central constraint on energy independence in this tenure, and it is why the published statistics on bands, standards and exemptions are the ones worth knowing.

What the private rented sector is and how big it is

The private rented sector covers homes let by private individuals and companies, as distinct from social housing let by councils and housing associations and from owner-occupation. In England it is the second largest tenure after owner-occupation, at 4.7 million households and 19 per cent of the total in 2023 to 2024¹.

The evidence base differs by nation, and that shapes what can be said. England's figures come from the English Housing Survey. Scotland publishes the Scottish House Condition Survey alongside the Scottish Household Survey, which draws a random sample of addresses every year and gathers evidence on the characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of private households as well as on the physical condition of Scotland's homes, covering housing, neighbourhoods, finances, local services and more⁶. In Wales, Rent Smart Wales publishes an energy performance dashboard for the rented stock, which does not take account of properties registered as exempt from the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards⁷.

That last point is worth holding on to when comparing nations: a dashboard or survey built from lodged certificates does not see the properties that have been taken out of the standard by an exemption, and a sector with a high exemption count will look better in the published data than it is on the ground.

EPC ratings A to G: what each band means

An Energy Performance Certificate rates how energy efficient a building is, with ratings from band A, very efficient, to band G, inefficient⁸. Behind the letter sits a number: both the energy efficiency rating and the environmental impact rating are scored on a scale of 1 to 100 and then split into bands A to G⁹. Non-domestic certificates add a band A+ at the top of the scale¹⁰.

A certificate is required when an existing building is sold or let¹¹, and it is valid for a maximum of ten years, or until another certificate is commissioned for the same building, whichever comes sooner⁵. That ten-year life is the single most common source of confusion for tenants: a certificate showing band D may have been lodged before a new boiler, new windows or loft insulation went in, or before a system was removed.

The banding system itself is being reformed. Scottish Government work on Energy Performance Certificate reform sets out the role a new rating system could play in supporting proposed regulations such as a private rented sector minimum energy efficiency standard¹², and the reformed domestic certificate introduces a separate Heat Retention Rating that a future Scottish standard would be set against¹³. In England and Wales, a published roadmap describes landlords being required to meet a minimum score of EPC C against a fabric performance metric and either the heating system or smart readiness metric, with an October 2030 date attached¹⁴. In other words, the single letter familiar today is expected to become a set of metrics, and a household reading a certificate in the next few years may be reading a different document from the one described here.

Private rented stock ranks lowest of the three tenures

The Scottish Government's own words are direct:

The numbers support it. In Scotland, 14 per cent of private rented properties are rated E, F or G, the highest share of any tenure, against 5 per cent in the social rented sector³. The house condition survey gives around 2 per cent for the social sector, 12 per cent for owner-occupied and 14 per cent for private rented in those bands². At the other end, 50 per cent of private rented dwellings were rated C or better, slightly below the owner-occupied figure of 52 per cent², while the 2023 progress reporting put the private rented share at 52 per cent¹². The two published figures are close but not identical, and they cover different reference years.

Earlier consultation material framed the gap more starkly still: twenty per cent of private rented housing had a poor EPC rating of E, F or G, compared with just 6 per cent of social housing¹⁶. The improvement since then is real, but the ordering of tenures has not changed.

Social housing has moved fastest. Homes in the Scottish social rented sector are now described as some of the most energy efficient in Scotland, with 85 per cent already achieving EPC band D or above¹⁷. Private rented stock is also not the worst on every measure: 25 per cent of private rented dwellings in Scotland fell below the tolerable standard, a lower rate than the comparator given in the same survey².

Why rented homes lag, and who bears the cost

Three structural features explain most of the gap. The first is split incentives: the landlord pays for the insulation and the tenant collects the saving, so the investment case for the person holding the asset is weak unless regulation or grant funding closes it. Successive policy documents treat minimum energy efficiency standards as the instrument for that, applied separately to private rented, owner-occupier and social housing¹⁸.

The second is tenure churn and information. Older Scottish analysis estimated around 60 per cent of tenancies in the sector as a whole lasting less than two years, while around a quarter of tenancies in privately rented dwellings with an EPC of F or G were estimated to last for more than ten years¹⁹. Short tenancies weaken a tenant's ability to press for work; long tenancies in the worst-rated homes mean the poorest stock is not routinely exposed to the point of sale or re-letting where standards bite. Information has been patchy too: evidence submitted to Parliament reported that only one in four consumers in the private rented sector received an EPC when renting a property²⁰.

The third is the overlap with low income. Among households in homes below EPC band C, the fuel poor were less likely to live in the owner occupied sector, 75 per cent versus 45 per cent, and more likely to be in the rental sectors, 20 per cent against 11 per cent in private rental and 35 per cent against 14 per cent in social renting²¹. Scottish fuel poverty scenario modelling to the October to December 2026 price cap period reports the figure remaining stable for those in the private rented sector²². The consequence for independence is plain: the tenure with the least control over fabric and heating also contains a disproportionate share of the households least able to absorb a bill. This is covered further in fuel poverty in the UK and in renting and home energy.

The minimum standard now in force: EPC band E

The operative rule in England and Wales is the 2018 Minimum Level of Energy Efficiency standard, EPC band E²³. No property which has not at least got an EPC rating of E or above can be rented out unless an exemption applies, and if the rating is F or G it must be improved to at least an E⁴. Landlords of domestic private rented properties, including public sector landlords, may not grant a tenancy to new or existing tenants where the property is band F or G, unless an exemption applies²⁴. Guidance to landlords already letting an F or G rated property is that it must be improved to a minimum rating of E, or an exemption registered where applicable²³.

The standard has always carried a cost limit. When the regulations were made, it was stated that in the domestic sector a landlord will not be required to reach an E EPC by installing measures which are not cost effective, provided all improvements fundable through a Green Deal, the energy company obligation and any available grant funding have been carried out²⁵. Non-domestic property sits under a parallel regime: around one in five of the non-domestic private rented stock fell within the lowest two bands, F and G, when the standard was introduced²⁵, and privately rented commercial buildings in England and Wales have been set a minimum efficiency standard of EPC band B by 2030²⁶.

Raising the floor to EPC C: what is proposed, and where

Every UK administration has proposed a C-equivalent standard, but on different dates and different measurement systems.

The England and Wales proposal is to raise the minimum energy efficiency standard required of privately rented homes to the equivalent of EPC C by 2030²⁷, a proposal also recorded in parliamentary committee reporting³¹ and in departmental impact analysis covering new proposals for private and social rented homes to meet EPC C by 2030³². The policy history is not linear: a previous plan to require EPC C by 2028 for private rented homes was scrapped in 2023³³, and the sector's regulatory milestones have been reset more than once, with earlier regulations framed around 2020, 2025 and 2030²². Welsh housing decarbonisation analysis argues that short-term UK targets such as EPC C for private rented housing need to go further³⁴.

Scotland's proposals run on a shorter clock. The Heat in Buildings Strategy set out requiring all private rented sector properties to reach a minimum standard equivalent to EPC C by 2028 where technically feasible and cost-effective at change of tenancy, with a backstop of 2028 for all remaining existing properties²⁸. Fuel poverty reporting repeats the same target¹⁸, and the published consultation on a Heat in Buildings Bill proposed that properties not meeting the standard by the end of 2028 would not be allowed to be leased to a new tenant³⁵. The Committee on Climate Change has said a Scottish plan should include minimum energy efficiency standards for privately rented homes³⁶.

The Scottish consultation on a private rented sector minimum energy efficiency standard ran between 6 June and 29 August 2025 and its responses are under analysis²⁹. It would use the reformed domestic EPC's new Heat Retention Rating as the basis for the standard¹³, meaning all privately rented properties, as far as possible, achieving a Heat Retention Rating of Band C³⁷. Earlier Scottish trajectories, since superseded, had proposed all dwellings reaching EPC E by 31 March 2022 and EPC D by 31 March 2025¹⁹.

Exemptions and the register

A property need not meet the standard if it cannot reasonably be brought up to it. The public register is where those cases are recorded: it lets anyone find private rental properties that are registered as exempt from the minimum standard of energy efficiency, and it shows when the property was registered as exempt and the reason³⁸. The same register can be searched for properties that have been issued penalties for failing to comply with these standards³⁸.

The register applies to properties which are legally required to have an EPC, are let on a relevant tenancy type, and cannot be improved to meet the minimum standard of EPC band E for one of the listed reasons³⁹. Registering requires the address of the rental property, which exemption type is being registered, and a valid Energy Performance Certificate for the property³⁹.

Exemptions are time-limited rather than permanent. Where a high cost exemption is used, it will expire, and the landlord must try again to improve the property's EPC rating to meet the minimum level of energy efficiency; if this still cannot be achieved, a further exemption may be registered³⁹.

Separately, certain buildings fall outside the certificate requirements altogether. Under the regulations these include:

• listed or officially protected properties where the requirements would unacceptably alter them²⁴
• temporary buildings used two years or less, and places of worship²⁴
• low-energy industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings²⁴
• detached buildings under 50 m2 of total floor space²⁴
• buildings occupied less than four months a year with expected energy consumption under 25 per cent of all-year use²⁴
• properties due for demolition with consents in place²⁴
• certain houses in multiple occupation not sold or let as a single rental in the past ten years²⁴

Residential buildings to be used for 25 per cent of the year or less are likewise outside the certificate requirement¹¹, and non-residential agricultural buildings in use by a sector covered by a national sectoral agreement on energy performance are excluded under the 2012 regulations for England and Wales⁴⁰. Building regulations carry a parallel carve-out for listed buildings, buildings in conservation areas and scheduled monuments where compliance would unacceptably alter their character or appearance⁴¹. The 2025 England and Wales consultation proposed increasing the number of exemptions available and amending current ones²⁷. Related duties are set out on landlord energy and safety duties and HMOs and shared houses.

What the EPC does and does not tell a tenant or landlord

The certificate is a modelled rating of the building, not a measurement of a household's bills. It reflects the fabric, heating system and controls as assessed on the day, and it stays on the register for up to ten years⁵. It says nothing about how the home is actually occupied, how a tenant heats it, or whether ventilation is adequate, which is why damp and mould in rented homes is a separate question from the band.

It also does not establish that a property is exempt or compliant. That information sits on the exemptions register, which records the reason and the date³⁸, and in Wales the published performance dashboard explicitly excludes exempt properties from its picture⁷.

Bands do, however, open and close doors to funding. The Warm Homes: Local Grant treats privately rented properties with an EPC rating of band F or G which have a registered exemption under the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 as eligible households⁴². Under the Energy Company Obligation 4, a tenant renting from a private landlord must have a house with an energy efficiency rating of E, F or G to be eligible, and the owner's permission is required⁴³. More on this in funding energy upgrades as a landlord and asking a landlord for energy improvements.

Scotland's differences: survey data, targets and landlord loans

Scotland differs in three ways that matter. First, the evidence: the Scottish House Condition Survey and the Scottish Household Survey provide annual, address-sampled data on both household characteristics and the physical condition of homes, designed to be representative of everyone in Scotland rather than particular groups⁶.

Second, the target and the metric. Scottish policy has carried a 2030 aim for private rented sector properties to achieve an equivalent of EPC C¹⁶, and the Heat in Buildings Strategy brought that to 2028 where technically feasible and cost-effective²⁸. The proposed standard would be measured on the reformed certificate's Heat Retention Rating rather than the current single letter¹³, and the consultation closed on 29 August 2025²⁹. A separate consultation on a minimum energy efficiency standard for the private rented sector has also been confirmed in government communications³.

Third, direct financial support to landlords. The Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan Scheme provides private registered landlords with interest free and low interest loan funding to improve the energy efficiency of their properties and install clean heating systems⁴⁴. Since 2020 the scheme had supported landlords to install over 300 energy efficiency and 34 renewables or clean heat measures⁴⁵, and later reporting records over 350 energy efficiency and clean heating or renewable measures in total⁴⁴. Set against a sector of this size, the scale is modest.

Cost assumptions from the Scottish appraisal of a band E standard give a sense of the sums involved: an upgrade cost of £33.2 million in total, or £1,110 per dwelling, a post-upgrade certificate cost totalling £2.1 million at an average of £70 each, and a net present value after in-use factors of £155.6 million, or £5,190 average per dwelling¹⁹. These are 2017 modelling figures for one option, not prices quoted to a landlord today.

What this means for a household's independence

A tenant in the private rented sector faces the same dependencies as any grid-connected household, on a supplier, on the gas or electricity network, on imported fuel, but with one extra layer: the decisions that would reduce those dependencies belong to someone else. Insulation, glazing, heating plant and controls are the landlord's; so is the right to commission a new certificate. Regulation is the main lever the tenant has, and today it sets the bar at band E in England and Wales⁴, with C-equivalent standards proposed but not in force²⁷.

Within that, the measures a renter can take are the portable and reversible ones, and grant eligibility for a low-rated rented home still requires the owner's permission⁴³. Options are set out in energy independence when you rent or live in a flat, and the wider picture by household type sits on the homes and households guide.