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- Charities unite to protect tenants from cold
- 2010
- Join the Big Climate Connection
- The UK's Climate Change Act goes on tour
- Gulf of Mexico oil spill
- Science demands we Get Serious About CO2
- Climate change reports and briefings round-up
- Under inspection
- Planning and the climate challenge
- Councils getting paid to generate green energy
- Bonn climate talks
- Key role for local councils if UK is to meet renewable energy targets
- Join the debate - Change trade not our climate
- Councils allowed to sell electricity
- The Robin Hood Tax
- Friends of the Earth in private meeting at UN
- Goodbye, de Boer
- Elementary, my dear Watson
- An evening of climate justice - London
- 100 days in and a long way to go
- Good Energy winter price freeze
- Big step forward for Warm Homes campaign
- Charities unite to protect tenants from cold
- One in three Brits too cold at home
- Insulating homes could save lives
- UK’s poorest left out in the cold by Government cuts
- Councils leading the way with green policies
- Councils petition Huhne for local action on climate
- Adios, amigos
- Big boost for Local Carbon Budgets campaign
Charities unite to protect tenants from cold21 September 2010
Friends of the Earth and concerned charities have written to Energy Secretary Chris Huhne demanding a new law to protect vulnerable tenants from dangerously cold homes.
The 15 organisations, including Age UK, Crisis and Disability Alliance, want the Government to make it illegal to rent out the most badly insulated houses until they are brought up to scratch.
It's a disgrace that millions of vulnerable people in Britain live in poorly insulated and dangerously cold homes that make them ill, while paying far more than they can afford trying to stay warm.
Dave Timms, Climate campaigner
Properties rented through private landlords are four times as likely to be cold as social housing provided by the local authority or a housing association.
Did you know?
Almost a fifth of private tenants live in fuel poverty - meaning they can't afford to heat their homes to a reasonable standard.
Friends of the Earth is calling for a minimum energy efficiency standard for private rented homes so they are better insulated and cheaper to heat.
This would protect tenants from high fuel bills and ill health, while creating jobs, saving the NHS money and cutting CO2.
Carbon emissions from homes make up almost a third of the UK's total. Improving the worst private rented homes is a vital step to slashing national emissions.
The urgent need for minimum efficiency standards in private rented homes has been backed by MPs from across the political spectrum.
Ask your MP to support the new law to ensure warm, healthy homes for everyone.
© Julia Freeman-Woolpert
