To qualify for the central heating grants for landlords scheme, the new central heating system to be installed must include a central heating boiler connected to radiators which heat the home.

Central Heating Grants for Landlords Qualifying Criteria requires that the new central heating system is installed in domestic premises which do not currently and has never had a central heating system fitted before.

There are two ways in which your tenant will qualify for the Central Heating Grants for Landlords scheme. Either they receive one of the qualifying State Benefits, Tax Credits or Other Allowances OR they qualify under ECO Flex Rules, please see below.

1.To qualify for the Central Heating Grants For Landlords scheme the tenant must rent the property from a private landlord. The tenant is the applicant, not the landlord.

For private tenants, only homes with an EPC rating of E, F or G are eligible for Central Heating Grants. You can see the EPC rating of your home by clicking HERE for England and Wales or HERE for Scotland.

This part of the ECO Scheme DOES NOT provide central heating grants for homes owned by the local authority or by housing associations, or for shared ownership homes.

2. The property MUST NEVER have had a central heating systems fitted before. If it has had a central heating system which has been removed, IT WILL NOT QUALIFY.

To qualify for the Central Heating Grants For Landlords scheme, your rental property must have either no heating at all or one of the following:

1. Electric room heaters
2. Electric storage heaters
3. Gas room heaters
4. Gas fire with back boiler but no radiators
5. Mains gas warm air systems
6. Solid fossil fuel fire with back boiler but no radiators
7. Electric underfloor but no electric boiler
8. Bottled LPG room heating
9. Solid fossil fuel room heaters
10. Wood or biomass room heating
11. Oil room heaters

The relevant heating system used to assess your eligibility for the Central Heating Grants for Landlords scheme is that which appears as the ‘Main Heating’ system on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for your home.

You can see the EPC for your rental property (if one has been prepared) HERE if you live in England or Wales and HERE if you live in Scotland.

IMPORTANT

One of the main changes from ECO3 (which ended on 31/03/2022) and ECO4 (which started on 01/04/2022) is that homes must have had an existing mains gas supply prior to 31st March 2022 to qualify for a First Time Central Heating grant to install a new mains gas central heating system.

If your rental property did not have a mains gas supply prior to 31st March 2022 you may qualify for a First Time Central Heating grant to install an air source heat pump.

3. Your tenant must receive one of the qualifying benefits, tax credits or other allowances OR qualify under ECO Flex Rules

Qualifying benefits include:

• Pension Credit – Guarantee Credit
• Pension Credit – Savings Credit
• Universal Credit
• Child Tax Credit
• Working Tax Credit
• Income Support
• Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Income-Based Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Child Benefit (subject to maximum household income thresholds)
• Housing Benefit

ECO Flex Rules are set by local authorities for homes situated within their boundaries. The ECO Flex central heating grants for landlords scheme allows householders who do not receive one of the benefits above, to qualify because they are on a low income and struggle heat their home properly.

4. The walls and roof of your rental property must be well insulated before a new central heating systems can be installed.

The installation company may be able to help with cavity wall insulation or loft insulation but if the can’t, it is your responsibility as owner of the property.

Please note that the central heating grants for landlords scheme may not pay for the full cost of installing a new central heating system.

The calculation of the amount offered for central heating grants for landlords is based on the characteristics of the rental property. Higher grants are normally offered for larger properties, those with more than 3 bedrooms, solid wall properties and those with more external walls, ie. end terraced, semi-detached and detached.