Nottingham benefits landlord Mick Roberts has warned that the government’s push to get rental properties up to an EPC C by 2030 could backfire if frustrated landlords are forced into making energy efficiency improvements their tenants don’t want or need.

In an impassioned plea to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Roberts says his tenants are paying £200 a month below the market rent, but that if he is told to spend thousands on improvements it would mean an increase in their rents.

“Ask the tenant if they want to pay £200 a month more to save £20 on their gas bill,” he demands.

“Many of my properties are EPC D with a new boiler, new windows, new doors, and insulated - very warm. You can’t retrospectively fit an old house to an EPC C without some side effects.

"Internal wall insulation costs £6,000 and I had one property done free on the government grant two years ago and the tenant got mould for the first time in 22 years.”

Roberts believes the government is only listening to those tenants living in cold, draughty homes and hasn’t taken those happily living in quality homes into account. He urges the Energy Secretary to go after the bad landlords charging high rents but not fixing their tenants’ boilers.

“Ed, every time you talk, you make tenants homeless because some of us have had enough,” says Roberts. “We don’t want the houses anyway; we’re only keeping them for the tenants, and you push us over the edge every time. If I can’t get to an EPC D, what do I do? Have I got to make the tenant homeless? Please do, then I can say it’s your fault.”

Watch Mick makes his comments.