More than two in five private renters in England and Wales had to ration gas and electricity to afford their energy bills last winter, Citizens Advice said.
A third of private renters — 32 per cent, or 3.5 million people — struggled to heat their home to a comfortable temperature, a survey for the advisory service suggests.
The charity said this forced people to take “drastic measures” such as skipping hot meals, wearing gloves inside and limiting heating to just one room.
Heat leaking from “shoddy” homes was “burning a hole in renters’ pockets — something they have no power to fix”.
Last month, Citizens Advice warned that this summer’s heatwaves left millions of people losing sleep, paying higher bills and suffering deteriorating health in homes not built to cope with rising temperatures.
ONS data shows that most renters (57 per cent) live in properties with an energy efficiency rating below EPC ‘C’.
The lower a home’s energy efficiency, the harder and more expensive it is to heat.
People in homes with the current minimum ‘E’ rating spent an extra £317 on energy bills last winter — a cost they would have avoided if their homes had been upgraded to ‘C’, the charity said.
It has urged the Government to deliver promised new rules requiring landlords to upgrade properties to a minimum of EPC C by 2030.
However, nearly a third of renters (29 per cent) said they avoided asking for repairs or renovations because they feared rent hikes or creating tension with their landlord.
Of the 30 per cent who had asked, 13 per cent said their landlord imposed conditions such as higher rent, while seven per cent said their landlord outright refused.
The charity is calling for enforcement of the Renters’ Rights Bill to protect renters from retaliation when asking for upgrades and repairs.
Emily Wise, energy adviser at Citizens Advice North East Lancashire, said: “Sadly, this is an all too familiar story. Many of the renters we help day-to-day say their landlords are hesitant to fix the substandard conditions they live in.
“Leaky, cold and damp housing is a huge problem in our local area, as many homes are particularly deteriorated due to salty sea air and high winds.
“Too often, this is forcing renters to spend disproportionately on gas and electricity in an attempt to achieve basic levels of comfort, as well as having to regularly choose between eating and heating their homes. Despite this, many of those we help are reluctant to raise these issues with their landlords because they fear putting their tenancy at risk.”
Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said: “Our advisers are bracing for more calls this winter from renters trapped in cold, leaky homes.
“It’s unacceptable that so many tenants are afraid to ask for the very basics — like fixing draughty doors, or replacing poor quality single-glazed windows.
“By 2030, the government must ensure no renter lives in a home that is excessively difficult and expensive to heat. And renters must urgently be given the security they deserve so they can ask landlords to fix substandard housing without fear of retaliation.”
A government spokesperson said: “Everyone deserves to live in a warm, comfortable home. We have consulted widely on our plans to require private rented homes to achieve Energy Performance Certificate C or equivalent by 2030. This could lift up to half a million homes out of fuel poverty, while making renters hundreds of pounds better off.
“We are taking urgent action this winter too, helping over six million households by expanding the £150 Warm Home Discount.”
