Energy Bill [Lords]

Mark Tami Excerpts

Wednesday 14th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Graham Jones]

I should like to speak to amendments 24, 23 and 25, which deal with the registration of information with landlords, and amendment 47, which would bring forward the date on which the standard came into force from 2018 to 2016.

I am pleased to make a contribution to this vital debate, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger) for tabling the amendments on landlord registration, as they are important for constituencies such as Hyndburn. The problems that parts of the country such as mine have in trying to comply with any form of action must be appreciated.

During the summer recess, many hon. Members enjoyed the less than balmy summer statistics released on fuel poverty. They show that far too many of our constituents dread the coming of winter because it will mean living in a home that is cold and damp, and the daily choice between whether to turn on the heating or to go without food or other essentials presents itself. Official statistics show that, in 2009, 5.5 million households in the UK could not afford to heat their home to a reasonable level and lived in fuel poverty. My constituency has a worse than average level of fuel poverty, with 7,352 households—one in every five—living in fuel poverty. This summer also brought the dreadful news that the big energy companies are to push up their prices even further, which will increase those numbers. It will result in more misery for the people in my constituency. Citizens Advice handled 104,000 fuel debt inquiries last year.

The worst conditions are too often found in properties rented by landlords. The most recent English housing survey found that more than 40% of private rented homes were not of a decent standard compared with 27% of local authority housing. Some great work on conditions in the private rented sector is being done by charities such as Shelter and Crisis, but we must do more. Last week, tenants in privately rented homes came together to form the national private tenants organisation, a move that I warmly welcome. It certainly has my support. They deserve the attention of the Minister for Housing and Local Government, who seems unable to hear anything but the voices of the landlord lobby. Almost as soon as he stepped through the door of the Department for Communities and Local Government, he declared:

“With the vast majority of England’s 3 million private tenants happy with the service they receive, I am satisfied that the current system strikes the right balance between the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords.”

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

In my area there is a high demand for private rented accommodation, but many tenants who come to see me feel threatened by their landlord if they raise these issues because, regardless of the state of the property, there is always someone else willing to take it on.