February 29th 2024
Data reveals renters are pushing for sustainable upgrades
New research from NatWest has found that 75% of UK renters want landlords to make sustainable changes to their properties to ease financial burdens.
The research, which was sought via the Greener Home Attitude tracker, was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of homebuyers’ preferences on the importance of certain environmental features and energy saving improvements.
According to the research team, individuals renting a property face a continued rise in monthly payments as NatWest data found two-thirds of UK renters (63%) are expecting a further increase over the next 12 months. Among this group, three-quarters want landlords to make sustainable improvements to their properties to help offset the increase.
The figures show that rental properties aren’t as well insulated compared to homes that have been bought. This includes tanks and pipes insulation (42% versus 58%) and cavity wall insulation (42% versus 58%).
In addition, the tracker found that when it comes to UK homeowners making sustainable upgrades, around one-in-five homeowners reported plans to make improvements to their property in the next 12 months, with many of those not planning to make changes citing the cost of work and disruption being the key barriers.
Lloyd Cochrane, Head of Mortgages at NatWest, said: ‘Cost and disruption continue to be major barriers for homeowners looking to make sustainable changes to their homes. We’ve also seen from latest data that renters are increasingly calling for landlords to address the energy efficiency of their properties. We recently introduced the Home Energy Hub to help to solve that problem for homeowners, by making it faster to understand, commission and pay for the work they might need.’
As part of the data collected by NatWest, households were asked in the final quarter of 2023 how much they’re forking out on their monthly energy bills. Of those that reported having both mains gas and mains electricity, 23% answered between £100-£149 – that’s approximately 21 Netflix monthly subscriptions and equates to £1,200-£1,788 per year.
This was followed by 18% of households paying between £150-£199, equating to £1800-2380 a year.
Moreover, the tracker also found that:
- Over half of respondents feel that the UK government is moving too slowly to aid the green energy transition
- The green lifestyle choices that have gained the most traction in the past year are regular use of public transport (29% in 2023 up from 25% in 2022) and regular recycling of clothing i.e. using Vinted or depop to buy and sell second hand clothing (48% in 2023 up from 46% in 2022)
- London topped the rankings for plans for solar panels (45%), with the North East, Yorkshire & Humber, and Scotland (all 30%) at the other end of the scale
Image: Openverse