Making homes more energy efficient too expensive say landlords
A new study from Citizens Advice Scotland found private landlords want to be greener - but say they can't afford it.
Making privately rented homes more energy efficient is too expensive for landlords, according to a new report.
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) carried out research into the sector, which make up 14% of Scotland's housing stock.
According to the study, landlords want to make their properties greener - and help with the shift to net zero carbon emissions - but say the cost of doing so is too high.
The report said: "While there is clearly appetite in the sector to install energy efficiency measures, those surveyed provided a range of barriers preventing or disincentivising them from doing more in this area.
"The key barrier identified was cost; participants felt there was a high initial cost to installation yet a slow and small return on investment; they also noted a lack of clear and useful information about financial support available to the sector.
"Time, unfit standards, and lack of information are also preventing the private rented sector from completing energy efficiency retrofit.''
The report goes on to say that more financial support is required from the Scottish government to help landlords make changes to properties.
CAS spokeswoman, Kate Morrison, said: "Our research into the private rented sector is all about finding out how likely people in Scotland are to make the changes necessary to meet net-zero.
"What we are finding is that both landlords and tenants support the target but tenants are unsure of what role they need to play, and landlords feel there are too many barriers in place to making the necessary changes.
"This is a problem that needs to be addressed, because there will be no net-zero without significant change in the energy efficiency of our housing stock.
"And failure to make the necessary changes now will just mean it is more expensive to do so in the end.''