From today, private tenants will be able to request consent from their landlords for energy efficiency improvements.

Landlords will not be able to withhold consent unreasonably.

However – although landlords can decide otherwise – it will be the tenants who fund the works.

The initial thinking was that they would mostly do so through the Green Deal, but this was scrapped last year and is unlikely to be replaced until next year.

While there are some options open to them, such as the Energy Company Obligation for those tenants on low incomes, the reality is that many tenants wanting improvements may have to foot the bill themselves.