A report by the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) has shown that 37.6% of private rented sector homes in Yorkshire are non-decent whilst the national average is 22% nationally and the average across the North as a whole is 30%. This at a time when Yorkshire is the region most heavily dependent on the PRS for housing provision.

The NHC represents a group of 140 councils and housing associations in the north of England and points out that this poor quality situation is getting worse.

The report comes at the same time that new data from property platform Homesearch is reported to show that private rented sector homes across the North will suffer most from the rise in home energy costs due to poor energy performance ratings. It's data shows that 7 out of the top 10 worst performing areas are in the North whilst the top 10 best performing in terms of energy efficiency are all London boroughs.

Sam Hunter, chief operating officer of Homesearch is quoted as saying "Our data indicates a clear North South divide in the environmental viability of rental accommodation and many households are going to struggle to pay energy bills through no fault of their own.".

NHC chief executive Tracy Harrison says that whilst many PRS tenants have a positive experience of renting "The quality of the housing at the lower end of the sector is simply not up to standard and can exacerbate physical and mental health conditions to limit life chances further" and urges Liz Truss to "accelerate the rental reform agenda".

Both of these reports certainly back up the need for more targeted action through, for example, selective licensing that focusses on fuel poverty and energy efficiency but it's also pretty likely that either Govt or private financing support for landlords will be needed on a large scale to properly upgrade PRS properties to make them compliant.