Bad news for landlords (and Paul Uppal), good news for me

In a move that will horrify the Landlords' Mouthpiece, Paul Uppal MP, the government's given way to lobbying and will pass a law requiring landlords to make their properties energy efficient or take them off the market.

Landlords will be forced to refurbish hundreds of thousands of the UK's most draughty and energy-inefficient homes or find themselves blocked from renting them out, under proposals unveiled on Tuesday.

The government has bowed to pressure from campaigners and brought forward an amendment to its energy bill, discussed by MPs yesterday, that would stop landlords from renting out homes that fell into the worst two bands of energy efficiency – F and G. The clause was missing from the original bill.

As a result, the estimated 680,000 rented homes falling into this category – about one-fifth of the total number of private rented residences – must be refurbished or taken off the market by 2018.

In addition, from 2016, private sector landlords will not be allowed to refuse "any reasonable request" to make energy efficiency improvements to their properties.

Brilliant. I live in a converted 1889 factory. It's got 25ft ceilings, useless secondary glazing and electric storage heaters so totally inefficient that I took them off the wall and replaced them with bookshelves. It's going to cost the landlord a large amount of money to install double-glazing, and will save me a fortune.

I hate renting a flat - I'd like a small cottage with a garden and a library, decorated the way I like it. But with a series of temporary jobs, no credit history and no deposit (thanks to doing loads of postgraduate work), ownership is a mirage.

But at least I'll be warm in 7 years' time.

Welcome to the book cave

It's a cultured week. Despite having an enormous amount of dispiriting work to do, I'm seeing Frank Turner tonight (meant to be very good), going to the Manchester Blog Awards to see if Cynical Ben and various other friends win, then to the Anish Kapoor exhibition in London, which will no doubt make me very, very angry - not at the artwork (probably) but at the general air of foppish superiority which pervades such events.

My new flat is gradually getting more organised - I even hosted post-histrionics drinks there on Friday night. Some new pictures here.

The rhino is part of a set dressing - apart from some heavily annotated books, it's all I have from my dead English teacher, Mike Caswell - a very great man.

 

Laura gave me Marvin - now I've finally found a place he'd like.

Enter the book cavern

My 1971 Soviet poster commemorating a decade since Gagarin's flight (and my degree certificates)

Cynical Ben and his Map Twat groomsmen

One of a pair of Michael Portillo Roman Salute bookends, courtesy of Neal

My paltry achievements. The figurine isn't an Oscar. It reads 'Least Worst Best Man', and is from Cynical Ben.

Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too…

Moin moin! (As they say in Schleswig-Holstein). I'm starting to wonder about the wisdom of moving in to a flat within 100 yards of four nightclubs… though I must say that I thought the weekend started on Friday, not Tuesday!

The flat proceeds apace. Last night Emma came round and we put together two sets of drawers, some CD storage and a bookcase, which towers above us. It was stunningly easy, and the two shelves put in backwards may be ascribed to the bottle of fine Chianti with which we wetted our whistles. Still unsure about where everything's going…

Busy day today - 3 meetings, a party, my mum might come down with furniture, rugs and some plates. No more eating off a copy of Grigson's English Food… Then it's off to the Civic Hall for some posh lefty Radio 4 ranting tonight, courtesy of Marcus Brigstocke.

Went swimming today… with a full escort from Sea Shepherd (give them your money) and ploughed through the necessary lengths with very little enjoyment.

Sous les livres, l'appartement

It's been worth moving in already: I've discovered that it's entirely feasible to wake up at 8.46 a.m. (that's 1 hour and forty six minutes after my usual time) and be opening a lecture at 9 a.m. Admittedly, I wasn't at my most fragrant or collected, but it's an important discovery.

I had a go at an IKEA chest yesterday, but stopped at the hammering stage as it was midnight. Construction was conducted to the sounds of Radio 3's weird jazz stuff, which really didn't work - it was so manic and frankly unpleasant that concentration was hard, but Radio 4 was doing something boring and I've not bothered setting up the TV. Oh for my beloved Late Junction.

The Donnie Darko condiment set

Still Life With Violin and Soviet Spaceman

Some of the books and records

Records A-D

Eventually, the kitchen.