Rogue landlords will go to any lengths to make extra money off their tenants, even at the cost of their safety.
Energy theft by landlords is a growing concern for tenants, with an increasing number resorting to meter tampering, meter bypassing and unregistered meters. Not only is this a criminal offence, but it can be dangerous and even deadly for their tenants.
A staggering 92% of tradespeople surveyed believe that rising expenses has led to more individuals seeking ways to slow down their meters and cut down on energy costs. (Direct Line). Many tenants are victims of landlord energy scams, but don’t know it.
Many people are struggling financially – landlords included – but it never justifies putting someone’s health or life at risk.
We have outlined exactly how to protect yourself as a tenant. We have outlined below exactly what to look out for, what you’re legally entitled to, and how to report a rogue landlord, to keep yourself, your household and your community safe from landlord energy scams.
What is a Rogue Landlord?
A rogue landlord is a property owner or letting agent who persistently or deliberately fails to comply with their legal obligations, renting out unsafe, substandard, or overcrowded accommodation and exploiting tenants in the process. Common unlawful practices include harassment, illegal eviction, withholding deposits, renting properties without the required licence and charging tenants fees that are prohibited by law.
The scale of the problem prompted major reform. Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, which came into force on 1 May 2026, local councils across England received a share of £60 million in new funding to enforce the Act’s new powers.
Councils now have a statutory duty to pursue rogue landlords, and in certain circumstances, they can enter properties without advance notice and impose fines of up to £40,000 for serious or repeated breaches. For tenants, that is a meaningful shift in how seriously the law now treats landlord misconduct.
Identifying Signs of Meter Tampering by Landlords
Meter tampering is one of the most dangerous forms of UK rogue landlord behaviour. Here are the signs of meter tampering to look out for.
Bills Included in Rent
Including bills in the total cost of the rent gives UK rogue landlords the opportunity to tamper with meters to reduce the cost of energy used or wipe it out completely – while still charging you the full amount in your rent, and pocketing the difference.
Bills included in your rent is not automatically a red flag, but it does remove your visibility that the energy used is actually being recorded and billed correctly.
If you notice any of the other warning signs below, alongside a bills-included arrangement, report your suspicions of a rogue landlord stealing energy to Stay Energy Safe, 100% anonymously.
Signs Around Your Meter
Inspect your meters carefully. Contact Stay Energy Safe immediately if you notice any of the following signs of meter tampering:
- Numbers not visible, not moving, or running backwards.
- Loose or exposed wires or unusual wiring.
- Burn or scorch marks on the meter casing.
- Sparks coming from the meter or wiring.
- Crackling or hissing noises around the meter.
- Wires that don’t lead back to the fuse board or trip switch panel.
- Pipes that have been bypassed, or look out of place, or the use of rubber tubing.
- The smell of gas around the meter.
- Signs of overheating such as smoke, burning smells or leaking bitumen.
- A pre-payment meter that no longer needs topping up.
These are all signs of energy theft by landlords.
Don’t ever touch a meter you suspect has been tampered with. It could be extremely dangerous and result in casualties and fatalities.
Contact Stay Energy Safe immediately, 100% anonymously, and tell us what you’ve seen. The sooner you report signs of energy theft by landlords, the sooner your supplier can make your meter safe again.
Read our guide to learn more about how to spot energy theft.
Restricted Access to Meters
If your landlord keeps electric and gas meters behind a locked door, and won’t grant you access to it, they could be trying to hide the signs of meter tampering.
Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, every tenant has legal right to access to the isolation switch or valve in case of emergency. A landlord who denies this is not just being obstructive. They may be trying to hide something.
The same applies to electrics. BS 7671, the 18th Edition IET Wiring Regulations, is the national standard every electrical installation in a rented property has to meet, and it also requires an accessible isolation point. The difference is where each one sits: the gas isolation switch, or ECV, is fitted before the meter, while the electrical equivalent, your consumer unit or fuse box, sits after it. Either way, you shouldn't be blocked from reaching the means to cut off your own supply in an emergency.
Landlord Refusing a Smart Meter
If you pay the energy bills directly at your property, you can request to have a smart meter installed. Always discuss it with your landlord first, but no landlord or letting agency should unreasonably refuse your request to have a smart meter installed (Ofgem).
If your landlord manages the bills, the decision is up to them, but an unexplained refusal is worth noting.
The government’s original 2025 target for smart meter coverage was not met. As of September 2025, around 40 million smart meters had been installed, covering approximately 70% of GB meters. Over 91% of installed smart meters operate in smart mode. A new policy framework now requires suppliers to take all reasonable steps to complete the rollout to all domestic properties by the end of 2030.
Our guide tells you everything there is to know about smart meters here.
The Dangers of Landlord Meter Tampering for Tenants
Not only are tenants being cheated out of their hard-earned money, but landlord meter tampering exposes you and your family or housemates to injury and even death.
It can cause your home appliances to overheat, malfunction, and become ‘live’ to the touch, leading to electrocution and serious burns. Exposed wiring near tampered meters can also result in electrical fires that spread rapidly through your home and neighbouring properties.
When rogue landlords tamper with gas meters, they can cause dangerous leaks, causing headaches, loss of consciousness, respiratory problems, and other health issues. Natural gas is also extremely flammable.
When gas builds up, just switching on a light can be enough to cause an explosion that rips through your home. Read more about the dangers of gas explosions here.
30% of electricians and gas engineers have spotted signs of meter tampering in people’s homes. 43% have been asked by customers to tamper with meters, and 19% say they either know or work with someone who has seen signs of meter tampering (Direct Line). It is happening all around us.
You can read real-life horror stories here.
Like all gas and electrical work, interrupting the supply is something that should only ever be dealt with by a fully trained and qualified professional. However, landlord meter tampering is often carried out using dangerous methods, by people who have little or no knowledge of what they’re doing.
Unaware and innocent tenants are too often the victims.
Tenant Rights Under the Renters’ Rights Act
As a UK tenant, you already have established legal tenant rights when it comes to energy and property safety. These exist independently of the Renters' Rights Act.
Your landlord must keep the property safe and free from health hazards, including those caused by faulty gas or electrical installations. They must have all gas appliances and flues checked annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer and give you the Gas Safety Certificate before you move in, or within 28 days of a new check. They must also ensure that any appliances they supply are safe.
Landlords must also meet electrical safety standards set out in BS 7671, the 18th Edition Wiring Regulations. This means having the electrical installation inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every five years, and getting an Electrical Installation Condition Report, or EICR, as evidence. You're entitled to a copy of that report within 28 days of the test if you're an existing tenant, before you move in if you're new, or within 28 days of asking for it if you're a prospective tenant.
If the report flags remedial work, your landlord has 28 days to get it done, or sooner if the report specifies a shorter deadline, and must then send you and the council written confirmation from the qualified person who carried out the works.
When renting, as well as access to a point of isolation for your supply, you should normally have access to the meters so you can check meter readings, understand your energy usage, identify any billing or charging errors and look for anything that may appear unsafe.
The meters are often located next to the isolation points, but this is not always the case. If the gas meter is locked in a meter box or compound, under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 the consumer should be provided with a key. If your gas or electricity meter is located in a locked area or another part of the building not included in your tenancy, you may need to request access to the meter and landlord should not unreasonably refuse the request.
Checking the readings can help ensure you are being charged correctly, whether you pay the energy supplier directly or pay your landlord for the energy you use.
If your landlord charges you for energy, they cannot make a profit from it. That means they cannot charge you more than they paid for the energy. Your landlord can only charge you for energy at all if your tenancy agreement explicitly says so.
From 1 May 2026, the Renters' Rights Act also introduced wider tenancy reforms in England. These aren't energy-specific, but two are worth flagging if you're dealing with a rogue landlord: Section 21 no-fault evictions are abolished, so you cannot be evicted without a valid legal reason.
The Act also covers:
- Landlords cannot ask for more than one month's rent in advance when you have signed the new tenancy agreement.
- Rent can only be increased once a year, with at least two months' notice, and never in the first 12 months of a tenancy. You can challenge a proposed increase at tribunal if it's above market rent.
- Landlords must give a genuine reason if they refuse a request to keep a pet.
- Rental bidding is banned. Landlords cannot accept or encourage offers above the advertised rent.
- Landlords cannot discriminate against tenants with children or those receiving benefits.
- All tenancies are now periodic, or rolling, with no fixed end date.
The headline point for anyone dealing with a rogue landlord is that the law can now apply real pressure, and councils already have the duty and funding to act on it.
How to Report a Rogue Landlord
Knowing how to report a rogue landlord is something all tenants need to know.
Every person has a right to feel safe in their home and to know exactly what they are paying for each month.
It helps to know which route to use, because they're not interchangeable.
Your local council's housing team deals with general rogue landlord issues, unsafe conditions, illegal eviction and licensing breaches.
Stay Energy Safe deals specifically with suspected meter tampering or energy theft. If your landlord is doing both, you may need to report to both.
If you suspect your landlord of meter tampering or energy theft, do not stay silent. Here are the steps to reporting a rogue landlord.
Step 1: Report to Stay Energy Safe
Call 0800 023 2777 or use the simple online reporting form. Both guarantee you will stay 100% anonymous. Stay Energy Safe is operated by Crimestoppers and will pass on the information to the relevant energy supplier or network to investigate and make meters safe. You will not be asked who you are, and will not be required to give any personal details, you can just pass on what you know. Even a small detail could protect someone’s life.
Step 2: Report to your local council
Contact your local council’s housing team or private rented sector enforcement team. Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, councils are legally required to investigate complaints about rogue landlords. Find your local council at gov.uk/find-local-council.
Step 3: Report to Crimestoppers
You can also report directly and anonymously to Crimestoppers online or by calling 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers passes intelligence to the relevant agencies without disclosing your identity.
Step 4: Contact Citizens Advice for help with billing issues
If you think your landlord is charging you more than they paid for the energy, and you cannot resolve the issue by speaking to them directly, contact Citizens Advice.
If you rent from a social landlord, then you can make a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service.
If you rent privately, you can bring a claim in the small claims court to recover what you've been overcharged with interest. If your landlord or managing agent is breaking consumer law, you can report them to Trading Standards. Reports to Trading Standards have to go through Citizens Advice, so they're the best first port of call either way.
Don’t let rogue landlords endanger any more lives. Reporting rogue landlords protects you, your neighbours, and anyone who moves into the property after you – as well as vulnerable members of your community who are unable, or too scared, to protect themselves.
Speaking up is how this stops.
If you suspect a landlord, or anyone, of meter tampering, call the Stay Energy Safe service now on 0800 023 2777, or fill out our online form. Both guarantee you stay 100% anonymous.
Even the smallest piece of information could save lives.