warm homes plan funding in London

Serving London and the wider Greater London area, including Croydon, Bromley, Dartford.

Warm Homes Plan funding for London households and landlords

London has roughly 3.6 million homes, and a large share of them are exactly the kind of property the Warm Homes Plan is designed to fix: solid-wall Victorian and Edwardian terraces, post-war flats with poor insulation, and conversions that lose heat through every wall. The capital’s housing stock is among the oldest in the country, which means draughty rooms, damp on north-facing walls, and energy bills that climb every winter. The good news is that London households can access every live UK scheme, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4), the Great British Insulation Scheme, the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and the council-delivered Warm Homes: Local Grant, all sitting under the government’s flagship Warm Homes Plan with around £15 billion to upgrade up to five million homes by 2030.

The Greater London Authority has set one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the country, a 2030 net zero goal, well ahead of the national 2050 statutory date. The London Environment Strategy frames home retrofit as central to hitting that target, and the Mayor’s Warmer Homes programme has channelled funding to lower-income households across the boroughs for years. For Londoners, that means strong policy backing, a mature installer network, and a genuine push to get the worst-performing homes off gas. What is missing online is clear, current eligibility guidance, especially with ECO4 and GBIS both closing during 2026. This page sets out which scheme fits which kind of London home and exactly how to apply through MCS-certified, TrustMark-registered installers.

Which London homes qualify, and for what

London’s housing tenure is unusually mixed: a high proportion of private renters, a large social housing sector, and pockets of fuel poverty sitting next to some of the most expensive property in the world. That mix matters because the schemes are routed differently.

If you are an owner-occupier or private renter on a means-tested benefit, Universal Credit, Pension Credit, income-based JSA or ESA, Income Support, Housing Benefit or Tax Credits, and your home is rated EPC D to G, ECO4 is the route to a fully funded, whole-house package. In boroughs like Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Tower Hamlets and Croydon, where benefit take-up is higher and a lot of stock is band D or worse, ECO4 has been the workhorse scheme. It bundles measures together: insulation first, then heating, often a new air source heat pump or a first-time central heating system.

If you are not on benefits but your home sits in Council Tax bands A to D with an EPC of D or below, the Great British Insulation Scheme General Group can still fund a single insulation measure, loft, cavity wall, solid wall, room-in-roof or underfloor. This is the route most London households overlook, because so much online guidance implies you must be claiming benefits. Plenty of working households in outer London bands A to D qualify on Council Tax band and EPC alone.

If you own your home anywhere in London and want to replace a gas or oil boiler, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £7,500 towards an air source or ground source heat pump regardless of income. The grant is deducted directly from your MCS-certified installer’s invoice, so you never handle the money. Flats and maisonettes can be trickier for heat pumps because of siting and noise rules under MCS 020, but ground-floor and converted properties with outdoor space are often viable.

A typical London retrofit, from Tottenham to Tooting

Consider a common London situation. A Victorian terraced house in Tottenham (N17), owner-occupied by a family on Universal Credit, EPC band E, with solid brick walls, a part-insulated loft and a tired gas boiler. The household assumes there is nothing they can do because the walls cannot take cavity insulation. Under ECO4, a PAS 2035 retrofit assessor surveyed the property, modelled the right measures in the right order, and the family received internal wall insulation, a loft top-up and a new air source heat pump, all bundled and lodged through TrustMark, at no cost. The EPC moved from E to C and the damp on the back wall resolved once the fabric work was done.

Now contrast a different London household: a couple in Tooting (SW17) who both work, are not on benefits, and live in a 1930s semi in Council Tax band C with an uninsulated loft. They do not qualify for ECO4, but they do qualify for GBIS General Group on Council Tax band and EPC alone, so loft insulation was largely funded under that route before the closing date. And a third: a homeowner in Chislehurst with an old oil-fired system who used the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant towards an air source heat pump, paying only the balance with the help of the new low-interest finance route. Three very different London homes, three different funding routes, one hub to map them.

London boroughs, councils and the Warm Homes: Local Grant

London is not one council but 32 boroughs plus the City of London, each delivering the Warm Homes: Local Grant slightly differently. The grant is for lower-income owner-occupiers and private renters in England with EPC band D to G homes, the usual test being gross household income under £36,000, with postcode or qualifying-benefit routes able to override that, and savings under £16,000. Because it is council-delivered, roll-out and exact criteria vary across boroughs, so the live gov.uk apply page and your own borough’s website are the places to confirm. The Greater London Authority’s 2030 net zero ambition means most boroughs are actively running or planning local delivery, often alongside the Mayor’s Warmer Homes scheme.

For Londoners served by the wider area, the same routes apply across the boundary in Croydon, Bromley, Dartford, Watford and Slough, where a lot of commuters live. Private renters in any of these areas can access ECO4, GBIS and the Local Grant with landlord consent, and we can provide a landlord consent template that also explains the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards angle, landlords already cannot legally let the worst-rated homes, so the upgrade protects their ability to rent the property out.

Landlords and businesses in London

London’s commercial property and private rented sector face their own pressure. Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards currently set an EPC E minimum to let, with a proposed tightening towards EPC C for domestic lettings and EPC B for commercial property by 2030. For landlords across the capital, doing the work now is usually cheaper than waiting for an enforcement deadline. Commercial landlords and businesses do not get the domestic grants, but solar PV, heat pumps and battery storage qualify for 100% Annual Investment Allowance under capital allowances, worth up to 25% effective tax relief in year one, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers small businesses replacing a fossil-fuel system. With commercial energy spend for a typical London SME running around £95,000 a year, the case for acting early is strong.

Postcodes covered across London

We cover every London postal area, from the EC and WC central districts through the four compass divisions:

• East: E and EC, including Stratford, Hackney, Newham and the City fringe
• North: N and NW, including Tottenham, Camden, Islington and Hampstead
• South: SE and SW, including Greenwich, Lewisham, Lambeth, Wandsworth and Croydon
• West: W and WC, including Ealing, Hammersmith, Westminster and Holborn

Whichever borough you live in, the first step is the same: a free, plain-English eligibility check that runs you through all four routes rather than assuming a no.

Next steps for London homes and landlords

If you live in London and your home is cold, damp or expensive to heat, you are very likely eligible for something, the question is which scheme. Start with our two-minute eligibility check, then we point you to the official gov.uk checker for the specific route and connect you with an MCS-certified, TrustMark-registered installer. We never cold-call, never ask for upfront payment, and never push the scheme that pays us most. For a head start on the numbers, read our guide to the cost of measures and how grants reduce them, the full grants and funding breakdown, or simply request a callback.