South Derbyshire District Council is renting out homes to vulnerable residents which are so cold and costly to heat that a private landlord would be fined thousands of pounds for letting them out.

Under legislation adopted by the council in January 2019, new fines of up to £5,000 per property were introduced for private landlords letting out homes which are extremely energy inefficient.

This was to prevent tenants from being landed with higher bills to heat their homes and to prevent negative health impacts.

However, this law, the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015 – now overwritten with 2019 – is only relevant to "domestic private rented properties".

As such, this has allowed the district council to continue renting council homes which are extremely energy inefficient and would have landed a private landlord with a fine, unless they had a valid exemption.

Energy efficiency is rated from A to G, with A being the most efficient and D being the national average. The law relating to energy efficiency to private rented properties, ratified in 2018, made it illegal to rent a property rated below E.

A recent sample survey of 700 council homes in South Derbyshire, carried out on its behalf by Nottingham City Council, found two homes rated F.

If replicated throughout all 3,000 of the council's homes, this could total 12 homes which landlords would not be allowed to rent – or face a fine. But the council still does.

The city council research also found a third of homes were rated below a C and needed a wide range of upgrades.

Paul Whittingham, the council's head of housing, said at a meeting on September 30 that all of the homes in question are already fitted with double glazing and top-grade boilers.

He said these homes may require fully replacing in order to give them the drastic energy efficiency improvements they require.

Mr Whittingham said: "They are at the end of their life, so for some this is a replacement programme."

Of the council's 3,000 homes, 80 per cent were built between 1950 and 1980, with the next largest percentage being built between 1930 and 1949.

Of the homes, 51 per cent are flats; 25 per cent are bungalows; 22 per cent are houses; and two per cent are maisonettes.

Three of the homes assessed in the sample had "no insulation".

In papers submitted as part of the meeting, Mr Whittingham details that of the 700 homes analysed by Nottingham City Council, on behalf of the district council, 231 were rated D or below.

The breakdown is as follows:

A – 0

B – 1

C – 468

D – 205

E – 24

F – 2

Nottingham City Council recommends the council focuses on insulating roofs, doors and windows as a way to upgrade properties and reduce bills for tenants.

The district council says the average cost per property to get them to an energy efficiency rating of C is £15,000.

It is bidding for £1 million in Government funding, and is set to front £500,000 from its reserves to support the bid to upgrade the homes.

Nottingham estimates it would cost £10.5 million to get the council's housing to zero carbon emissions.

A key way to reach this is through installing solar panels on the rooftops of council housing.

Allison Thomas, the council's strategic director for service delivery, said improving council housing was a key change which needed to be made in order to get the authority to net carbon-zero.

In response, Councillor Gordon Rhind, chair of South Derbyshire District Council's housing and community services committee, said: "As part of its commitment to tackling climate change, the council is bringing council homes up to the EPC level C and is actively seeking financial support to deliver these improvements.

"As reported to the housing and community services committee on 30 September, the majority of council homes are already at or above EPC Level C."