Landlord Energy Efficiency Grants

There are three grant routes open to private landlords, plus local authority top-up schemes in some areas. The Great British Insulation Scheme ended on 31 March 2026 and is listed for reference. Here is a quick comparison:

ECO4 is a legal obligation on large energy suppliers in Great Britain. It requires large energy suppliers to fund improvements to low-income and low-energy-efficiency homes. For landlords, this can mean free or subsidised insulation and heating upgrades.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays a fixed grant towards low-carbon heating, and the amount depends on the technology. Off-gas-grid homes replacing an oil or LPG heating system can get £9,000 towards an air-to-water or ground source heat pump, from 21 July 2026 until March 2027. The scheme has been extended to 2030, but Ofgem cannot issue new vouchers after 31 December 2029 (SI 2022/565 reg 15(7)(c), as amended by SI 2026/390).

The Warm Homes: Local Grant has been delivered through local authorities in England since April 2025 and is now part of the Warm Homes Plan. It has cost caps of £16,600 per home for energy performance upgrades and £16,600per home for low carbon heating, averaged across each council's project, for homes rated EPC D to G. Privately rented homes rated F or G need a registered exemption first.

Private landlords are included where the tenant household meets the eligibility criteria. One home per landlord can be fully funded, then the landlord pays at least 50% for each further home.

GBIS has closed. According to Ofgem it began in April 2023 and ended on 31 March 2026, so it is no longer available. The details below describe how it worked. The Great British Insulation Scheme complemented ECO4 and, unlike ECO4's whole-house approach, mostly delivered single insulation measures. As well as supporting low-income and vulnerable households, it was available to homes rated EPC D to G within Council Tax bands A to D in England and A to E in Scotland and Wales.

Beyond national schemes, many local authorities operate their own grant programmes, funded by central government allocations or council budgets. These can supplement national schemes or provide funding for properties or works not covered elsewhere.

It is sometimes possible to use more than one scheme on the same property, dramatically reducing your out-of-pocket costs. The key is understanding which schemes can and cannot be combined.

The cost cap is the maximum a landlord has to spend on EPC improvements before they can register an exemption and keep letting legally. It is £3,500 including VAT under the rules in force, and government has proposed £10,000 alongside the EPC C standard planned for 2030. The detail most landlords miss: under the rules in force, grant funding does not use up the cap. Under the proposed £10,000 cap, Boiler Upgrade Scheme money would not count, but other third-party funding, such as ECO4 or local grants, could.

Grants are not the only way to bring the cost down. HMRC lets landlords deduct some improvement costs from rental income, depending on whether the work counts as a revenue expense or capital expenditure.