Energy grants for landlords under the Warm Homes Local Grant

How the landlord offer works

The Warm Homes: Local Grant was designed to reach fuel-poor tenants in privately rented homes, a group the earlier Local Authority Delivery and Home Upgrade Grant schemes struggled to reach. The guidance calls its offer “more generous” for that reason.

Your homes under the scheme	Grant (project average ceilings)	Your contribution
First home	up to £16,600 energy performance + up to £16,600 low carbon heating	£0
Second home and each one after	up to £8,300 + up to £8,300	50% of the cost of works

“First” means first across the whole scheme, not first per council. The count follows the owners named in the title deeds, so it applies to you however many projects or council areas your homes sit in.

What makes a rented home eligible

The tenant’s household must be on a low income through one of the three pathways: an eligible postcode, a listed means-tested benefit, or a gross household income of £36,000 or less (or under the after-housing-costs limit).

The home must be in England, already lived in, and rated EPC D, E, F or G. For F and G homes there is an extra step: the landlord must have a registered exemption under the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015. The grant cannot be used to make a home compliant with existing regulations, though it can improve a home beyond the legal minimum. Councils must check that landlords letting F and G homes are compliant.

The paperwork

DESNZ gave councils two forms for rented homes:

1. A landlord declaration form, which you complete and return to the council.
2. An online form, which the council completes after checking your information and matching your details against the title deeds. This feeds the central database of landlords.

The declaration covers:

• the information needed to decide whether the home gets 100% or 50% funding
• confirmation that you have not exceeded the £315,000 Minimal Financial Assistance limit from all public sources over the current and previous two financial years
• confirmation that you understand rents should not be increased as a result of the funded upgrades
• consent to take part in DESNZ surveys and evaluations

DESNZ or its delivery partner checks the database weekly and tells the council whether the home qualifies for 100% or 50% funding. Councils must not confirm a fully funded offer until that check is back. If you withdraw before funding, the council tells DESNZ so your details can be removed.

The subsidy rules in plain English

Upgrading a rented home is a subsidy to the landlord under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. To keep it simple, the council gives it as Minimal Financial Assistance: it tells you the gross value of the proposed assistance, you confirm in writing that it will not take you over £315,000 in the current and previous two financial years, and the council confirms the value and date before work starts. Where total subsidy to one landlord exceeds £100,000, the council also has transparency duties under the Act.

Why tenants and landlords should talk early

A tenant cannot sign up a rented home alone, and a landlord usually will not know whether the tenant’s income qualifies. The simplest route is for the tenant to raise it and the landlord to contact the council. We wrote a tenant’s guide with a note to forward.

Illustrative example: a landlord with three homes

An illustrative example using only the published figures. A landlord owns three terraced houses, each let to a household that qualifies, each rated EPC E. The first house can be fully funded: the landlord pays nothing for an agreed package within the caps. For the second and third, the grant covers half, up to £8,300 per pot per home on average, and the landlord pays the other half. The landlord must confirm the total public subsidy stays under £315,000 across the three years, and that rents will not rise because of the funded work.

Minimum energy standards are a separate duty

Domestic private rented homes are due to need EPC C by 1 October 2030, subject to a spending cap (about £10,000) and exemptions, as confirmed in the Warm Homes Plan. The Warm Homes: Local Grant is not a compliance scheme: it cannot pay to bring a home up to an existing legal minimum, and it does not waive any future duty. It can, however, help with homes that qualify today.

Greater Manchester and the West Midlands

Landlords in the 17 devolved council areas deal with their combined authority instead. WMCA advertises Warm Homes Grants covering 70% of costs on a landlord’s first four properties and 50% from the fifth, for homes rated D or below in named target neighbourhoods. The devolved route.