What cheap draught-proofing can renters do?

The permission question is the one renters ask first. Most tenancy agreements prohibit altering the windows, floors, walls and other parts of a building's fabric, so temporary removable measures are the ones that fit inside a tenancy². Where a fix needs drilling, such as an outdoor socket, landlord permission is needed³. Where a scheme is doing the work, the scheme itself asks the landlord: private renters applying to Nest must provide the landlord's details so permission can be requested⁴.

The limits are as firm as the benefits. Air bricks, trickle vents and boiler flues must never be blocked, and kitchens and bathrooms should not be over-sealed where there is no extractor fan¹. Official guidance for rented housing goes further: rooms with an open-flue gas appliance, and all kitchens, bathrooms and toilets, should have enough permanent ventilation by air brick or similar⁵. Draught-proofing a rented home is therefore about closing the gaps that were never meant to be open, not about making the home airtight.

Why draughts matter: where rented homes lose heat

Heat loss in a home is not spread evenly. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that an un-insulated dwelling loses a third of all its heat through the walls and a further quarter through the roof⁹. Heat loss through the roof alone can make up to 25% of all heat loss in the home¹⁰. Large, detached houses and bungalows lose a high proportion of their heat through the roof¹¹. Those figures describe the fabric, and a renter cannot change the fabric, but they explain why the gaps a renter can close matter: they sit on top of an already leaky envelope.

Some rented housing has features that make the problem worse. Louvre blade windows are particularly wasteful in terms of heat loss as well as being an added security risk⁵. The loft hatch, where a renter has access to one, should be both insulated and draught proofed to prevent heat loss¹². Draughts are commonly found around external windows and doors, open chimneys, loft hatches, and in gaps around floorboards and skirting boards¹³.

The effect of closing them is straightforward. Cutting draughts helps reduce heat loss, making a home more comfortable and lowering heating demand¹⁴. That is a comfort and demand statement rather than a promise about a bill, because the size of any saving depends on how draughty the home was before the work. For a household's energy independence, draught-proofing does something specific: it reduces the amount of bought-in gas or electricity needed to hold a room at temperature, without changing the supplier, the meter or the heating system. The dependence on the grid and on a supplier remains exactly as it was.

What renters can and cannot change: the permission question

The dividing line is alteration versus addition. Most tenancy agreements prohibit altering the windows, floors, walls and other parts of a building's fabric, so temporary removable measures should be used². A draught strip pressed into a frame, a brush screwed to the inside of a door with two short screws, or a chimney pillow pushed up a flue are additions that can be taken out again. A replacement window, a new external door or a sealed-up vent are alterations.

Where a measure needs drilling, permission is the rule. If outdoor plug sockets need to be installed or any drilling needs to take place, landlord permission is required³. The same principle applies to scheme-funded work: private renters applying to Nest must provide the landlord's details so the scheme can request permission for any work⁴.

Two related areas are settled in the tenant's favour and are worth knowing. If a lease says landlord permission is needed to change the meter, Ofgem, the energy regulator, says they should not unreasonably prevent this¹⁵. And a rental contract term that prevents a tenant changing supplier is unfair and cannot be enforced; the landlord or letting agent cannot stop it¹⁶. Neither point is about draught-proofing itself, but both show that a tenancy agreement is not unlimited in what it can restrict.

Cheap draught-proofing fixes that need no landlord consent

The cheapest measures are the ones that involve no fixing at all. Draught-proofing strips for window and door edges, brush or hinged-flap excluders at door bottoms, an inflatable chimney pillow for open chimneys, flexible silicone-based filler for floorboards and foam strips for loft hatches are all listed as standard methods¹⁷. Door sweeps and brushes attach to the base of a door, letterbox brushes sit inside the plate, and chimney draught excluders close an unused flue¹³.

For doors specifically, the sides can be insulated with simple strip insulation and draught sealers, widely available at DIY shops¹⁸. Internal doors matter too: keeping all internal doors closed retains heat within individual rooms, and draught excluders at the bottom of those doors help as well¹⁸.

Costs are modest. Professional draught proofing can cost around £55, while DIY draught proofing can be much cheaper⁶. Hiring a professional installer to draughtproof a home could cost around £200⁷. The amount saved on bills means the work is likely to pay for itself in a few years⁷. For a renter, the DIY route is the one that avoids both the cost and the permission question.

There is a tax position worth noting for anyone buying materials. Draught stripping, for example insulation fixed around windows and doors, qualifies for a lower rate of VAT¹⁹. The legislation lists draught stripping for windows and doors among energy-saving materials²⁰, and HMRC describes these as strips of insulation fixed around windows, interior and exterior doors, and loft hatches to reduce draughts²¹.

Sealing windows and doors: strips, brushes and excluders

Windows take draught-proofing strips around the frame¹⁷. The material is a strip of insulation fixed around windows, interior and exterior doors, and loft hatches to reduce draughts²¹. On a sash window the choice of product matters: brush strips work better for sash windows²², because the sashes slide past one another and a brush can sit in the gap without preventing that movement. Tape run across a sliding sash is more likely to lift or jam.

Doors are the other main opening. The sides can be treated with strip insulation and draught sealers¹⁸, and the base with a door sweep or brush that attaches to the bottom¹³. A hinged-flap excluder is the alternative at a door bottom¹⁷. For a front door in a rented flat, the brush type is the least invasive because it fixes to the door itself rather than the frame.

The free option has a catch. A rolled towel placed over the gap at the bottom of a front door will need placing back over the gap each time the front door is opened²³. It costs nothing and damages nothing, but it is a habit rather than a fitting.

Chimneys, letterboxes and keyholes: the forgotten gaps

An open chimney is a direct hole in the thermal envelope, and an inflatable chimney pillow is the standard answer for one that is not in use¹⁷. A chimney draught excluder is listed among the products available for this purpose¹³. The condition is that the flue must genuinely be unused; a working open fire or an open-flue appliance is a different case entirely.

Letterboxes are cheap to deal with. Fitting letterbox brushes is put at around £5⁸, and letter box brushes are listed among the draught-excluding products available¹³. Keyholes and other small penetrations in a door are the same category of gap: small, cheap to close, and easy to reverse.

Finding the gaps in the first place is a job in itself. Common places to find draughts are around external windows and doors, open chimneys, loft hatches, and in gaps around floorboards and skirting boards¹³. A short length of foam draught excluder, about 50mm, works as a test strip¹. Held against a suspected gap on a windy day, it shows where air is moving.

For a household's independence, these small gaps are the cheapest reduction in bought-in energy available to a tenant. They do not change where the gas or electricity comes from, and they do not remove the standing charge or the reliance on a supplier. They reduce the volume of heat that has to be replaced.

What to leave alone: vents, flues and ventilation

Never block boiler flues, air bricks, or window trickle vents, and avoid over draught-proofing windows in kitchens and bathrooms where moist air needs to escape and where there is no mechanical ventilation such as an extractor fan¹. That is the single most important limit on the whole exercise.

Official guidance for rented housing sets out the ventilation that must remain. All rooms containing an open flue gas heating appliance and all kitchens, bathrooms and toilets should be provided with enough suitable permanent ventilation by air brick or similar⁵. The same guidance excludes rooms containing an open-flue gas appliance from the landlord's draught-proofing duty, which is the mirror image of the same rule: those rooms are not to be sealed⁵.

Where damp is a concern, the advice is to improve ventilation to help remove moisture, check that none of the air vents are covered and that extractor fans are working²⁴. Outside ventilation should be kept in areas where there are open fires or flues, and in rooms where moisture is produced, such as kitchens and bathrooms⁷. Portable heaters carry a related rule: vents should be kept clear and airflow should not be restricted by dust and fluff²⁵.

There is a point at which more draught-proofing stops helping. If a home is already fairly well draught proofed, adding more draught proofing may increase the risk of poor air quality⁶. The practical test is whether the home already feels sealed; if it does, the remaining gaps are probably doing a job.

Grants and schemes that cover draught-proofing

Draught-proofing appears in some funded schemes and is absent from others. In Northern Ireland, draught-proofing is listed as an available measure under the individual measure schemes²⁶. In Wales, the Nest scheme provides free home energy efficiency improvements, and private renters applying must provide the landlord's details so permission can be requested for any work⁴.

The gap is at the level of national obligation. The National Insulation Association has stated that draught proofing is missing from the list of eligible insulation measures²⁵. That is a consultation position rather than a rule, but it explains why draught-proofing is more often a DIY purchase than a funded measure.

For a renter, the funded routes that do exist tend to require the landlord's involvement, which puts them in a different category from the measures in this guide. The cheap, reversible fixes need no application, no assessment and no permission, which is precisely why they suit a tenancy. Where a household wants to go further, the wider picture of grants and eligibility is set out in how to check which energy grants you qualify for, and the steps for taking more control of a home's energy are in energy independence step by step.