EPC Upgrade Grants and Funding: What Is Available Where

Grants for energy upgrades are real, but they are targeted, means-tested, and often tenant-driven. You will not get a free GBP 15,000 refurb on every rental just because EPC C is coming.

ECO4: main route for "free" insulation

ECO4 is the big supplier-funded scheme that can pay for a lot of work, but it is tenant-led, not "landlord entitlement".

• Runs until: 31 March 2026 (current regulations).
• Who it targets: low-income / fuel-poor households.
• Tenure: owner-occupiers, PRS, social housing.

Landlord-specific rules:

• Property must usually be EPC D-G.
• Your tenant must qualify (means-tested benefits or via LA Flex route).
• You must give written landlord consent.
• You may be asked to top up for expensive measures.

What it can fund (via installers, not you applying direct):

• Loft and cavity insulation.
• Solid-wall insulation (internal or external).
• Heating upgrades (new boiler, sometimes heat pumps, controls).
• Ventilation and draught-proofing as part of a "whole-house" plan.

How you actually use it in practice:

1. Check tenant benefits / income (or ask an installer to screen them).
2. If they qualify, installer does survey and lodges ECO4 job with a supplier.
3. You sign ECO4 consent forms as landlord.
4. Works are done with little or no cost to you on the cheaper measures, partial contribution on big jobs.

Most landlords miss ECO4 because they assume "benefits = problem tenant" and never check eligibility. That can literally be GBP 3-10k of free fabric upgrades you do not pay for.

GBIS: Great British Insulation Scheme (replaces ECO+)

GBIS is the lighter-touch insulation arm, still running alongside ECO4.

• Tenure: owner-occupiers, PRS, social.
• Eligibility:
• Properties in Council Tax bands A-D (A-E in Scotland/Wales).
• EPC D-G.
• No benefit requirement for many homes, so PRS can qualify even with working tenants.
• What it covers: mainly single insulation measures (loft, cavity, sometimes underfloor/room-in-roof).

For you: this is often how you get a free or cheap loft/cavity job in a cheap terrace where ECO4 is not an option because the tenant is not on benefits.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS)

BUS is the heat-pump grant. You do not apply as landlord; your installer applies and discounts the quote.

Grants (2026 rates):

• GBP 7,500 - air source heat pump (ASHP).
• GBP 7,500 - ground / water source heat pump.
• GBP 5,000 - biomass boiler (off-gas, rural only).

One grant per property.

Eligibility for rentals:

• Property in England or Wales, existing building.
• You must own it. PRS is allowed.
• System must replace fossil-fuel or direct electric.
• EPC must not show outstanding loft or cavity recommendations, or you must fix those first.

How it works for you:

• ASHP quote GBP 12,000.
• Installer applies for BUS and gets GBP 7,500.
• You pay GBP 4,500.

Common forum myth: "BUS is only for homeowners." Not true - landlords can use it on rentals if criteria are met.

Home Upgrade Grant (HUG2)

HUG2 is for off-gas, low-income homes in England, including PRS, delivered through councils.

• Funding pot: GBP 630m for Sept 2023-March 2025 delivery; several councils have extensions running into 2025-26.
• Target properties:
• Off the gas grid.
• EPC D-G.
• Low-income households (benefits or area-based criteria).

PRS rules:

• Landlords must pay at least one-third of total cost.
• Social landlords must pay at least half.
• All measures must stay within cost caps set by HUG guidance.

Measures: insulation, heating upgrades (including heat pumps), glazing, solar in some cases.

For you: HUG2 + BUS can stack in some areas, with HUG picking up fabric and BUS subsidising the heat pump, but you still need to co-fund.

Local authority PRS grants (very patchy)

There is no national landlord grant, but some councils run PRS retrofit schemes using LAD/HUG money and local pots:

Examples (change over time, you must check each council):

• Northern cities / cold spots: free or heavily subsidised loft/cavity and ASHP in specific postcodes, often tied to selective licensing areas.
• London boroughs and combined authorities (e.g. GMCA, West Midlands): area-based schemes where PRS is eligible if tenants are low-income and landlord co-funds.

Typical pattern:

• Grant covers 50-100% of loft and cavity.
• 30-60% of solid-wall or heat-pump costs.
• Caps of GBP 5-10k per property.

You find these by checking your council's "Warm Homes" / "Energy Efficiency" pages, not by searching generic "landlord grant" posts on forums.

Green Homes Grant LAD: context only

The original Green Homes Grant voucher scheme is dead.

Local Authority Delivery (LAD) and HUG1 ran 2020-23, now closed, except for final mop-up works. LAD3 funding (GBP 287m) went mostly into owner-occupier and some PRS upgrades, but you cannot newly access it in 2026.

So you treat LAD as history, not a route you can use now.

Social Housing Decarbonisation / Warm Homes Social Housing Fund

Relevant if you are a social landlord or housing association, not for private portfolios.

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 (new name for SHDF Wave 3) runs from mid-2025, co-funding insulation and heating upgrades in social homes.

Aims: decarbonise social stock to EPC C by 2030, tackle fuel poverty, grow retrofit supply chain.

Private landlords cannot tap this money, but it matters because:

• It will lift social EPCs, making poor private stock look worse competitively.

Scotland: Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan

If your rental is in Scotland, the main scheme is Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan.

Grants:

• Up to GBP 7,500 for clean heating system (e.g. heat pump).
• Up to GBP 7,500 for insulation / energy efficiency (75% of cost, capped).
• Rural/Island uplift: extra GBP 1,500 on each, so max GBP 18,000 grant in remote areas.

Interest-free loans available on top for remaining cost.

Landlord angle: Private landlords can access it if they meet eligibility and any PRS-specific rules; grants are per property and you need to apply directly via Home Energy Scotland.

Wales: Nest Warm Homes scheme

In Wales, Nest is the main scheme and does cover some private rentals.

• Focus: low-income / fuel-poor households.
• Measures: insulation, heating upgrades, whole-house packages.

Tenure split 2024-25:

• 83% of beneficiaries were owner-occupiers.
• 13% were in private rented homes.

Key points for you:

• Nest will fund PRS upgrades if the tenant qualifies and the landlord is properly registered (via Rent Smart Wales) and consents.
• Average spend per household in 2024-25 ranged from GBP 6.1k to GBP 19.7k across Welsh authorities.

Stacking grants: what actually works

You cannot double-dip the same measure from two public pots, but you can sequence and mix schemes:

1. ECO4 / GBIS for fabric (loft, cavity, some solid wall), especially where tenants are on benefits or in Band A-D homes.
2. HUG2 / local authority schemes to add more expensive measures (solid-wall, ASHP) in off-gas, low-income properties, with you co-funding at least a third.
3. BUS on top to cut the net cost of a heat pump, once insulation is sorted.

Example realistic stack on an off-gas F-rated cottage in England:

• ECO4 / GBIS: loft and cavity-equivalent measures, GBP 3,000 funded.
• HUG2: internal wall insulation GBP 6,000, of which grant covers GBP 4,000, you pay GBP 2,000 (one-third minimum).
• BUS: ASHP GBP 12,000 less GBP 7,500 grant, you pay GBP 4,500.
• Total GBP 21,000 work, GBP 14,500 grant, GBP 6,500 landlord contribution.

Typical costs vs what grants actually cover

Indicative 2025-26 costs, before grants:

• Loft insulation top-up: GBP 400-700.
• Cavity wall insulation: GBP 800-1,500.
• Room-in-roof / internal solid wall: GBP 8,000-15,000 per house.
• External wall insulation: GBP 10,000-20,000+.
• Double glazing (whole small terrace): GBP 4,000-7,000.
• New condensing boiler + controls: GBP 2,500-3,500.
• ASHP install: GBP 10,000-14,000 (pre-grant).

How grants tend to apply:

• ECO4/GBIS will often cover 100% of loft/cavity, big chunk of wall insulation, sometimes all if the property is very poor and the tenant is very low income.
• BUS takes GBP 7,500 off a heat pump; you still pay GBP 3-6k.
• HUG2 / local schemes tend to cap per-home support, often GBP 10-15k, and expect you to co-fund at least a third in PRS.

So grants can halve or better the cost on the worst stock, but almost never take it to zero unless you hit a perfect ECO4 case.

What landlords commonly miss (and what forums get wrong)

Missed opportunities

• ECO4/GBIS on benefit-receiving tenants where you never check eligibility.
• HUG2 on off-gas terraces and cottages where you assume off-grid means no support.
• BUS on rural or edge-of-town rentals where a heat pump actually makes sense and gas is not available anyway.
• Nest / Home Energy Scotland in devolved nations because you only read England-centric advice.

Forum myths

"There will be a new national landlord grant that pays for EPC C." Reality: current government line is targeted support only (fuel poverty, off-gas, low income). Analyses of the GBP 20bn EPC-C bill assume landlords mostly pay themselves.

"BUS and ECO4 are only for owner-occupiers." Reality: both schemes explicitly allow private landlords, with tenant-eligibility and landlord-consent rules baked in.

"You can stack unlimited public grants on the same job." Reality: schemes have double-funding rules; you can combine fabric + heating from different pots, but not claim two grants for the same measure.

"If your property is cheap, grants will always cover 100% because it is unfair otherwise." Reality: guidance is about fuel poverty and carbon, not your yield. Wales's Nest, for example, uses a GBP 35k per-home cap and average spends of GBP 6-20k, not blank cheques.

Legislation tracker, budget coverage, new tools. Free, no spam.

Didn't find what you were looking for?