Faster, stronger action needed on cold homes4 July 2011
Homes that are badly insulated and poorly heated make people ill, contribute to climate change and cost a fortune to heat.
Your latest stories
Here's what some of our supporters have to say about feeling the chill at home.
Help make it illegal for landlords to rent out dangerously cold homes.
Melanie, London
I love my flat but it has massive draughty windows and is blooming freezing. Last night I was so cold I went to bed in pyjamas, ski socks, a hoodie with the hood up and a dressing gown to top it all off. more ...
Rich, London
My previous rented property had huge, single-glazed windows and a boiler that decided to pack up during the cold snap, and gaps under the doors big enough to pass a yellow pages through. I could see my breath as I lay in bed more ...
Jasmine, West Sussex
I have lived in a privately rented house for three years. It's an old farmworkers cottage and beautiful with a lot of character. However, it has no central heating. more ...
Rob, Sheffield
I am an established student landlord in Sheffield and have always properly insulated my rented houses. Unfortunately I fear I am in a minority and that many other landlords do not bother. more ...
Alice, London
I once rented a flat in Nottingham in the summer, in a beautiful detached house. Wonderful, till winter, when the central heating I was paying for poured through the uninsulated walls, windows and ceilings. more ...
Susan, Abergavenny
My 11-year old daughter and I are currently moving out of a rented house. The house is freezing cold, with no draught proofing and draughty sash windows with huge visible gaps in the window frames. During the recent cold weather, ice formed on the inside of the window each morning. more ...
Matthew, Bristol
The idea of a new law to protect tenants is very important because there are simply no incentives for landlords to improve home insulation. I know from having lived in rented accommodation (with leaky single-glazing) for many years. more ...
Michael, Swansea
The main problems I experience in my rented ground floor flat are draughts from the windows and doors. The front bay window is wooden framed with a single thin pane of glass in each section. I find it impossible to keep warm - and in addition I suffer with Osteoarthritis. more ...
Frank, London
I don't want to recollect all the cold flats and houses I've lodged in. There was my parents' home where I and my sisters stood around the electric fire in the mornings before we scampered into the even colder bathroom to wash for school. Then there were the countless student flats I rented, where sometimes it was just too cold to work on my drawing board. more ...
Steven, St Albans
This recent chill has been fairly tough because of the poor insulation in my flat and the rubbish energy-sapping electric heaters we have here. I had the same problem last year in other rented accommodation. more ...
Norma, Stoke-on-Trent
My flat is very cold and very expensive to heat as it is all electric. There is no heating in the icy cold bathroom and water pipes that run along the lift shaft mean the hot water simply isn't hot for long. more ...
Stephen, London
I've rented in London for the last five and a half years and can only afford low-cost accommodation. I've rented three different properties - all typical old buildings with single-glazed windows and no draught sealant around doors or windows to minimise heat loss or stop cold coming in. more ...
Earl, Edgeley
I live in a house in Edgeley which is extremely cold. The landlord thought that when the old boiler broke down, it would be OK to replace it with a boiler meant for a one-bedroom flat, not a two-bedroom house. more ...
Daniel, London
I've lived in various rented properties over the last few years of my life. Without exception they have been poorly insulated, poorly draught-sealed - and as a result, either cold or expensive to keep warm and unnecessarily energy hungry. more ...
Deborah, Sheffield
I'm a mature student and single parent living in a rented home. This winter we struggled to stay warm due to our badly insulated house. more ...
Janine, Bath
In Bath in particular, with so many old buildings, keeping warm at home can be a real issue. Large windows which can't be double glazed, high ceilings and poor heating systems - often electric night storage as opposed to gas - are what many people suffer in city centre rented homes. more ...
Rasullah, Shepton Mallet
Both our children, aged 28 and 26, who have first class degrees, live in badly insulated rented accommodation. They're unable to afford to buy a house or flat because of lack of job security. more ...
Jenny, Norwich
As an elderly landlady who rents out a single small property, I value my tenants' warmth and health as highly as my own. Two years ago I had an up-to-date gas boiler installed in their home. This year, during other renovations, I increased the attic insulation to current standards and replaced the gas fire. more ...
Catherine, Hertford
Some years ago, my rented flat froze to the extent we could no longer use the toilet and had to wash at a friend's house down the road. I can remember the frozen toothbrush bristles. more ...
Duncan, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
In August 2009 I moved into a well-located, beautiful house. My four friends and I thought we were getting a real bargain as the landlord let it to us at a bargain rate. But as soon as we moved in the problems began. more ...
Dougal, Nottingham
I've recently left a rented property which was horribly cold through the winter. Even with the heating on it was difficult to keep warm. more ...
Jyotsna, London
My partner and I rented a north-facing, single-aspect flat with three external walls, by the canal. Due to its location and orientation the flat needed extra insulation to protect against cold winters. But it only had single glazing and night storage electric heaters more ...
Anna, York
I have lived in rented accommodation for the past 10 years. It has not been uncommon for me to have to wear hats and scarves indoors, as even with full heating on, the heat quickly disappears in a house that is not properly insulated. more ...
Lawrence, London
Not so long ago I was a student living in London. I rented a small flat with a friend that was reasonably close to our college. It was one of the few flats we could afford. But it was cold and draughty more ...
Kristie, Pinner
I rent a one-bedroom flat on my own. My heating bills in the winter are 12 per cent of my monthly income, and this only heats my living room. In the winter, I use two duvets and a blanket as well as lots of clothes and hot water bottles to keep me warm in bed. more ...
Paul, North Wales
As a professional working person, I have been renting houses in North West Wales for the last five years. All the properties I have rented have been through private landlords. None of these houses have been sufficiently modernised or insulated more ...
Laura, Bristol
I've lived in a cold rented property a few times and it really is depressing, especially for those of us who suffer from a circulation disorder. more ...
Pamela, Market Harborough
My son rents a shared house in the North West with several friends from university. The house is an old Georgian building with inadequate heating. The top floor, where my son has his room, is not on the heating system more ...
Oliver, London
The last home I rented was about as well insulated as a sieve. When we had the heating on full blast, the house heated up. But once it was turned off the heat disappeared within 20 minutes at best. more ...
David, Glastonbury
I had to live in a bedsit in winter when I first moved out of my parents' home. It was draughty, damp and almost impossible to get warm with the little paraffin heater provided by the landlord. more ...
Fran, Sheffield
My son lives in a rented house which is poorly insulated and cold. There is nothing he can do to make the house warmer and the landlord doesn't want to bother - why should he? more ...
Alison, London
I've been so cold at times in my rented flat in Finsbury Park. The situation improved recently after we got a new boiler but last year it was much worse. more ...
Aileen, Milton Keynes
My daughter's experience as a university student and since graduation is common to many young people who move to rented accommodation to pursue studies and careers. more ...
Sheila, London
When I first came to this country we stayed in a hotel where the rooms were heated with a bar fire after a shilling was inserted. I had never been so cold indoors. more ...
Helen, Manchester
As a student, I lived in a series of poorly-insulated homes which wasted energy I could hardly afford. But the landlords did nothing because it didn't affect the rent I paid them. more ...
Elizabeth, Stoke-on-Trent
My partner and I lived in our home as undergraduate students for two years and we live in the same house as postgraduates. We can't afford to keep the heating for more than two hours per day - not long enough to keep us warm. more ...
William, London
During the winter our house is painfully cold. It is all poor quality single glazing and thin brick walls with no insulation. more ...
Michael, London
When I was a student in County Durham, I had to endure a cold flat in one of the coldest parts of England. more ...
Andrew, Oxford
I recently moved into rented accommodation in Oxford and when the snow came our heating just couldn't keep up. We had four electric storage heaters on full power all day for over a month and the temperature didn't get above 15 degrees. more ...
Anna, London
Going to bed wearing five layers and a woolly hat is certainly not fun, and it's frustrating to know that by using our hugely inefficient heating I'm also contributing unnecessarily to runaway climate change. more ...
Mark, Bristol
I've rented all my adult life and have had the misfortune to live in some very poor accommodation. more ...
David, Winchester
I well remember the cold winter of 1963 living as a student in Cambridge in a rented top floor room in a house with a completely uninsulated roof, badly fitting windows, a tiny, very inefficient gas fire and no carpet on the floor. more ...
Karen, Teddington
I work locally as a community midwife and see the awful accommodation many women live in with their families at first hand. Much of it is poorly heated and expensive to maintain. more ...
Fergal, London
I have worked for several years for six different London environmental health departments and one of the main issues is excess cold. It is the single biggest killer in the home and is responsible for thousand of deaths a year. more ...
David, Richmond
A few years ago in pre-trendy Hoxton I recall my flatmates denying the existence of the washing up, or indeed the kitchen, because it was too far from the living room where our two-bar electric heater lived. more ...
Robert, Cornwall
My friends rented a home without proper heating. Night storage heaters didn't work properly and the windows weren't double-glazed. They resorted to putting massive pieces of cling film over the windows to try to keep in some heat! more ...
David, Coventry
The windows in the bedroom of our rented flat didn't fit the frame properly. We tried taping up the gaps, made curtains with heavy lining more ...
Chris, Stockport
As a student I put up with a rented house that could get very cold. This was despite using plastic sheets as double-glazing and a paraffin heater in a room I'd draught proofed as much as possible. more ...
Julie, York
As a student I lived in a very cold rented house. Not only did we struggle with paying the heating bills - the worst thing was when it was so cold that the whole of the toilet, system and bowl, froze over. more ...
Mathew, Richmond
Let's face it - London's rented housing stock is rubbish! If you're a tenant you really need a super immune system that can survive killer mould disease every winter. Or you need your own personal dehumidifier. more ...
Gemma, Harrogate
I live on the top floor of a converted Victorian terraced house. Without the heating on, the temperature inside varies between two and seven degrees. The central heating doesn't make a significant difference because the flat suffers from significant heat loss - through the walls and roof. more ...
Anne, London
My rented bedsit was so cold that things froze in the bathroom. We had no fridge, but didn't need one in winter. more ...
Helen, Newent
My son and his partner live in a rented top-floor flat. It's tiny but the rent is the highest they can afford. There's no real insulation because it's in what would have been the attic. more ...
Sam, Cardiff
Last year I lived in a converted Victorian house - our rented ground-floor flat was mostly an extension. The walls were completely hollow, no insulation at all. Only half the house had double glazing which made it worse. more ...
Chloe, Taunton
We're a family with two children aged 13 and 8. Since moving in nearly five years ago we've been asking our landlady to replace a rotten, draughty door and three single-glazed windows. She keeps telling us she can't afford it. more ...
Penny, Devon
Our daughter lives in an extremely cold rented house, with no double glazing and probably no insulation. During this winter it has felt damp and cold continuously. more ...
Cari, Cardiff
My rented house is cold. We sometimes sit in three jumpers, two blankets and the heating on full blast and still we're cold. Unfortunately, some landlords don't take into account the discomfort their rented houses can cause their tenants. more ...
Lynne, Dorset
After 10 years of living in a cold, damp rented flat my daughter is delighted to have moved. Even while spending a fortune on electric heaters the flat never felt warm and cosy due to the damp. more ...
Maggie, Southampton
My 25-year-old son rents a flat in London. The living room is basically a conservatory tacked on to the back of the kitchen, with two outside walls and a thin polypropylene roof. more ...
Ollie, London
At university we noticed someone had left a tumble drier on the pavement, presumably for collection by the council. We saved them the bother. more ...
Nicky, Leeds
Being cold indoors has driven me to some extreme lengths and eccentric behaviour. One of my outlandish schemes came back to haunt me recently more ...
Derek, Hastings
I once lived in a cold rented house and suffered from bad bouts of flu every year before vaccines were available. The house was miserably cold and draughty, even with the portable heaters we brought in. more ...
Helen, London
When I was a student in Birmingham back in the 1990s I lived in a shared flat and got the room at the back of the house, in a freezing cold uninsulated single brick extension. It had an old wooden, single glazed window and was really little more than a shed. more ...
Need some help?
For free advice on paying heating bills and how to save energy, visit Home Heat Helpline or call 0800 336699.
Find out your legal rights as a tenant at Shelter or call 0808 800 4444.
