Search for "EPC grants for landlords" and you will find pages cheerfully promoting schemes that closed months ago. Stale grant advice costs real money: you delay work waiting for funding that no longer exists, or pay full price for a measure a live scheme would have covered. So here is the position as of mid-2026, checked against GOV.UK scheme by scheme: one scheme has closed, one has been extended, one is genuinely useful to most landlords, and the government's new flagship programme is open to the private rented sector with strings attached.
Why landlords are hunting for funding now
The legal minimum for a let home in England and Wales is still EPC band E, but the direction of travel is firmly towards C. The February 2025 consultation proposed band C for new tenancies by 2028 and all tenancies by 2030, and the government's Warm Homes Plan, published in November 2025, confirmed it intends to require private rented homes to reach EPC C (measured on the reformed EPC metrics) by 2030, with a proposed cost cap of £10,000 per property (gov.uk). The final regulations are still awaited, so treat the dates as a planning horizon rather than settled law. Usefully, the plan also confirmed that qualifying work done from October 2025 onwards is intended to count towards that future cost cap, so improving early should not mean paying twice.
For a typical D-rated house the works often come in under £5,000; solid-wall properties can cost multiples of that. We break the numbers down in our guide to the cost to improve EPC rating to C, and the new EPC rules for landlords set out exactly what is law now versus announced for 2030. Every pound of grant funding comes straight off that bill, which makes an hour of eligibility checking one of the better-paid hours in property.
ECO4: extended to 31 December 2026, but the conditions are tight
The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) requires energy suppliers to fund insulation and heating improvements for low-income households (gov.uk). It was due to close on 31 March 2026, but the government extended it by nine months to 31 December 2026, and confirmed there will be no ECO5 or successor supplier obligation afterwards (gov.uk). After December, the ECO framework is replaced by direct government funding under the Warm Homes Plan.
For landlords, two conditions do most of the filtering:
- The property must be rated E, F or G. A D-rated rental gets nothing from ECO4, which rules out the classic D-to-C push.
- The tenant must qualify. Someone in the household needs to receive a qualifying means-tested benefit, such as Universal Credit or Pension Credit, and you need the tenant's cooperation plus your consent as landlord.
If both boxes are ticked, ECO4 can fund serious measures: loft, cavity and solid wall insulation, and heating upgrades. Start with an energy supplier or your council, and move quickly, because installers' pipelines will fill as the December deadline approaches.
The LA Flex route
ECO4 Flex lets councils widen eligibility beyond the benefits list, for example to low-income households or people with health conditions made worse by a cold home. Each council publishes its own criteria in a statement of intent, so if your tenant is on a modest income but not on benefits, search your local authority's website for "ECO4 Flex" before assuming the scheme is closed to you.
The Great British Insulation Scheme: closed
The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS), the single-measure insulation scheme that ran alongside ECO4, has closed. The eligibility checker on GOV.UK has shut, installations had to be completed by 31 March 2026, and the government confirmed it would not be extended to match ECO4's new end date (gov.uk). If a website offers you "free insulation through GBIS" in the second half of 2026, treat it as a sign to close the tab.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme: the one most landlords can actually use
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) is the standout for landlords because it has no tenant income test and no EPC band restriction. It gives an upfront grant towards replacing a fossil fuel heating system (gas, oil, LPG or electric) in England and Wales (gov.uk):
- £7,500 towards an air source or ground source heat pump
- £5,000 towards a biomass boiler (off-grid rural properties only)
- £2,500 towards air-to-air heat pumps and heat batteries, technologies added in 2026 under the Warm Homes Plan
Landlords are explicitly eligible, including for properties you rent out and second homes, with one grant per property. The Warm Homes Plan committed funding through to 2030, so this is the scheme with the longest runway. Applying is refreshingly simple: you get quotes from MCS-certified installers, and your chosen installer applies to Ofgem on your behalf, deducting the grant from your invoice. The work must be commissioned within 120 days of the application.
Two honest caveats. A full heat pump installation usually costs more than the grant, so budget for a top-up. And a heat pump does not automatically lift your EPC band, because the certificate's metrics weigh running costs as well as carbon, so ask your assessor to model the score impact before you commit.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant: open to landlords, with a haircut
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is the new council-delivered scheme in England, running to 2028, covering insulation, air source heat pumps, smart heating controls and solar (gov.uk). Private rented homes qualify if the property is rated D to G and the tenant's household income is around £36,000 or less (or they receive means-tested benefits, or live in an eligible postcode).
The landlord terms are the part to note: your first eligible property can be fully funded, but you must contribute 50% of the cost for each additional property. Tenants must not be asked to pay anything, including through rent increases. Applications go through the GOV.UK service, and the council arranges the survey and the work. Unlike ECO4, band D properties qualify, which makes this the main funded route for the D-to-C journey where your tenant meets the income test.
What no scheme will pay for
Be realistic about the gaps. Nothing funds a property already at band C. ECO4 excludes band D entirely. A mid-market let with working tenants earning above the threshold fails every fabric-funding test in 2026, so solid wall insulation on that Victorian terrace is probably coming out of your pocket. Windows and doors are rarely funded. And no scheme compensates you for voids or project management time. Plan for self-funding as the default and treat grants as a bonus, not a strategy.
A practical order of operations
- Pull the EPC recommendations report for each property. Note the score, not just the band, and the measures listed with indicative costs.
- Price the measures with two or three quotes before touching any funding paperwork, so you know what a grant is actually worth to you.
- Check funding in deadline order: the Warm Homes: Local Grant if your tenant might qualify, ECO4 before 31 December 2026 for E-G properties with eligible tenants, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme whenever a heating system change is on the cards.
- Keep every invoice and quote. If the EPC C rules land with a £10,000 cost cap, your paperwork is your exemption case.
- Track the dates. EPC renewals, tenancy changes and scheme deadlines interact, and our compliance deadline checker keeps the renewal dates in one place so a funding window never closes on you unnoticed.
This is general information, not financial advice. Grant schemes change quickly, sometimes mid-year, so confirm the current position on GOV.UK before committing money or signing anything with an installer.
