Grants

Government grants will be available to landlords to be able to meet the new standards from the end of September 2021. A Green Homes Grant of up to £5,000 / up to two-thirds of the cost may be available from a government pot of £2billion. This funding will cover approximately three years so that there will be up to £640 million per year available of funding for retrofit improvements.

However, the government is committed to a principle called ‘fabric first’. This means that government want landlords to improve wall insulation as a priority before upgrading heating or heating controls. The problem here is that the most cost effective measures usually involve heating and heating controls, not internal or external wall insulation which is very expensive. The government’s drive for ‘fabric first’ may therefore have a bearing on Green Homes Grants

The grants of £5,000 or two-thirds the cost of improvement (whichever is less) and which might be good enough to get a new boiler and radiators, will leave a landlord woefully short if the grant is only given against internal or external wall insulation under the fabric first principle.