Canberra landlords offering rental properties with poor or no ceiling insulation have drawn the ire of the ACT government, as a timeline for mandatory insulation is announced.
From April next year, private rentals and public housing properties will begin having to be fitted with ceiling insulation that meets the standard of new builds.
Landlords will have a phase-in period until November 2026 to make the changes, unless they get new tenants in at any time from April.
The government has estimated that 18,000 Canberra properties will need to be upgraded.
Better Renting executive director Joel Dignam campaigned for the measure after hearing from thousands of renters "who were really struggling over winter".
"I've lived in some of these properties and I know what some of them are like, and this will help, but there is probably further to go," he said.
He said there also needed to be mandates for energy-efficient appliances in rental properties.
'We don't want renters to have to go into the roof'
Mr Dignam said the announcement would likely prompt tenants to wonder what was currently inside the ceiling of their rental property.
He said it was the responsibility of landlords to assess whether upgrades were needed.
"Go to your agent or landlord first, and some people may need to go to the [ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal], but hopefully that's a minority," Mr Dignam said.
"And for landlords who are thinking about this, getting a professional is the best option, particularly because you're not living in the property.
"Properties that have been built more recently are very likely to already meet the standard — and that in itself might be sufficient evidence that it already complies.
"Ideally, what you'd be seeing [in the ceiling] is some big fluffy rock wool or something like that.
"But we don't want renters to have to go into the roof."
Will renters end up footing the bill?
Landlord Emma Barclay said while she welcomed the increased focus on sustainability, property owners were already feeling the pinch.
"I think that it's maybe the straw that breaks the camel's back," Ms Barclay said.
She said the new regulation could end up costing renters.
"It's going to turn into more people needing to sell and ultimately a shortage of rental properties, which is going to end up costing renters more money," she said.
"Absolutely it needs to happen, I'm frustrated it's taken this long for energy efficiency to come to the forefront a bit more ... but I do think there needs to be some assistance from the government."
But ACT Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Shane Rattenbury said landlords should not baulk at the cost of the upgrades but instead focus on the value it would add to their investment.
He said landlords were also able to get interest-free loans for insulation under the government's existing sustainable household scheme.
"Not everyone has to rush out and do it in the next few months … There is a period up until November 2026 for landlords to get this done, unless they have a new tenant come in," Mr Rattenbury said.
And he said he did not expect that the cost of the insulation would be passed onto tenants through rent increases.
"To be honest, with the vacancy rates that we have in Canberra, landlords are already getting whatever they can," Mr Rattenbury said.
"But even if there was a full cost pass on to tenants, with the insulation they're getting, tenants would still be better off because of the savings to their energy bills."
Avoiding mistakes of past scheme
In 2009 a federal home insulation scheme was established under former prime minister Kevin Rudd, with a royal commission later finding it was rushed and had little oversight, resulting in the deaths of four men.
Mr Rattenbury said tough lessons had been learnt since the collapse of the deadly Commonwealth scheme, and that safeguards had been factored into the ACT's scheme.
"To avoid the risk of fire and electrocution of installers, there will be a requirement that a licensed electrician has to undertake an electrical safety check before installation," Mr Rattenbury said.
Mr Dignam added that "one of the differences of the past scheme was that it virtually cost people nothing to get insulation, so, it was sort of like, 'Eh, whatever.'"
"But in this case landlords are going to be paying money to get it done so they'll want to make sure it's getting done properly," Mr Dignam said.
Mr Rattenbury said the only issue he could foresee with the current plan was a lack of installers to carry out the work.
"However, the government has been working with the Master Builders Association and [the Canberra Institute of Technology] to develop a training course to get more installers in the ACT," he said.
"It's a bit of a chicken and egg thing though: until the demand is there, you won't get more installers."
