Current Grants and Financing for Home Retrofit & Repair
Retrofit & Repair Grants for Homeowners
There are a number of grants currently available for homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient. There have a range of different eligibility criteria so do check what you qualify for, even if you think you don’t usually qualify.
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Selce is working with Royal Borough of Greenwich and Lewisham Council to deliver Love Lofts programme provides a free helping hand to residents of both to insulate their lofts for health, wealth and future.
What it offers
- Free eligibility checks for energy efficiency grants
- Free loft insulation inspection carried out by a qualified Retrofit Assessor
- Free handy-person to help remove and replace light- and medium-weight goods from the loft
- Free quote sourcing from reputable contractors
- £500 (in Greenwich and in Lewisham) toward the cost of insulation!
- Spot checks on works
Eligibility
Must be a homeowner in Greenwich or Lewisham.
How to access
- lovelofts@selce.org.uk
- 020 4566 5764 x 3
- www.selce.org.uk/lovelofts
What it offers
The scheme officially offers: Loft, flat roof, cavity, EWI, IWI, underfloor.
Contractors are not delivering everything on offer as not all measures are financially viable. They are prioritising EWI, cavity, flat roof and loft (for households with no insulation).
Eligibility Criteria
You may be eligible for a grant to pay for your home’s loft insulation if your house:
- Has as a valid EPC certificate of D or below, AND
- Is in council Tax band A-D.
The level of financial support you will receive (full or requiring a contribution from the homeowner) will be determined based on if your household.
Full support for household if it has:
- has an annual income of £31,000 or below OR
- Is in receipt of certain benefits:
- Income based Job Seekers Allowance
- Income related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Income Support
- Pension Credit
- Guarantee Credit
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Universal Credit
- Housing Benefit
Partial support for households if their income is above £31,000.
The level of support will be determined based on the measure in question, the house in question and the household income. The homeowner experience of the partially funded stream will be like normal quoting with the added step of the contractor getting approval and figures around the scheme’s contribution.
How to access
For Greenwich and Lewisham residents, you can access this by contacting Selce’s Love Lofts team who will do the preliminary eligibility checks and refer onto a trusted contractor.
- lovelofts@selce.org.uk
- 020 4566 5764 x 3
- www.selce.org.uk/lovelofts
Or across England by seeking out a Trustmarked contractor.
The fourth Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) Scheme is a government programme to enhance home energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions. It mandates energy companies install energy-saving measures in homes to alleviate fuel poverty at no cost to homeowners. As part of our Future Fit Homes offer for ECO eligible households, we provide a free whole house plan, refer to trusted contractors and provide support during the period of works. The funding and application are administered by the delivery contractor.
It primarily focuses on providing funding for energy-efficient home improvements to for houses that are EPC rated D-G to increase their EPC rating to a C or up two bands for households who meet the eligibility criteria.
What it offers
In practice the grant is primarily offering insulation, ventilation and heating system upgrades. On off-gas properties, they may install solar arrays.
There are 3 eligibility streams in ECO:
A. (ECO4) Low income
For households that have net household income of below £31,000
B. (ECO4) On means tested benefits
Qualifying benefits are:
1) Income based Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)
2) Income related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
3) Income Support (IS)
4) Pension Credit Guarantee Credit (PCGC)
5) Working Tax Credit (WTC)
6) Child Tax Credit (CTC)
7) Universal Credit (UC)
8) Housing Benefit
9) Pension Credit Savings Credit (PCSC)
10) Child Benefit (subject to income caps and composition)
C. (ECOFLEX) For people, regardless of income who are medically affected by the cold:
- People with cardiovascular conditions
- People with respiratory conditions (in particular, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and childhood asthma)
- People with mental health conditions
- People with disabilities
- People with immunosuppression
How to access
For households in Greenwich and Lewisham you can access this by contacting Selce’s Future Fit Homes team who will do the preliminary eligibility checks and refer onto a trusted contractor.
- futurefithomes@selce.org.uk
- 020 4566 5764 x 2
- www.selce.org.uk/futurefithomes
Or across England by seeking out a Trustmarked contractor.
Bexley Council are supporting homeowners to access The Home Upgrade Grant. Residents must:
- own their home
- have a gross household income of £36,000 per year or less OR live in a certain postcodes
- live in a home with a low energy rating
- live in a home with no gas central heating
- live in a property that is an existing domestic dwelling (rather than a new build or self-built property)
To find out more visit Bexley Council’s website
Boiler upgrade scheme
Through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, you could get a grant to cover part of the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating systems with a heat pump or biomass boiler.
Fossil fuel heating systems include oil, gas, electric or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).
What it offers
You can get one grant per property. Current grants are available for:
- £7,500 towards an air source heat pump
- £7,500 towards a ground source heat pump (including water source heat pumps and those on shared ground loops)
- £5,000 towards a biomass boiler
Eligibility
You’re eligible for a grant if both of the following are true. You must:
- Own the property you’re applying for (including if it’s a business, a second home, or a property you rent out to tenants)
- Be replacing fossil fuel heating systems – such as oil, gas, electric or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas)
- Have a valid Energy Performance Certificate
You’re still eligible if you’ve already had funding to make your property more energy efficient, for example by insulating it.
How to access
You can apply through the government’s web portal.
Local authorities have financial support in grants and loe interest loans available to help homeowners with repairs when they are unable to afford them themselves.
Lewisham Council Home Repairs Grants up to £10,000 for:
- repairs for category 1 and 2 hazards as assessed by the Council under the HHSRS
- installing full gas central heating with a condensing combination boiler, or low-carbon alternative where appropriate
- replacement boilers that are over 20 years old and in poor condition
- installation of 270mm loft insulation and cavity wall insulation (where appropriate)
Lewisham Council Home Repairs Loans at no interest up to £30,000 to compliment the repairs grants.
Greenwich Home Repair Grants up to £5,000 for emergency home repairs. Also provide a handy person service to qualifying households and grants for disability adaptions.
Retrofit Financing
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What it offers
- Choose from a 2 or 5 year fixed rate mortgage.
- Get 0% fixed interest for the first 2 or 5 years.
- Borrow £5,000 to £20,000, depending on your circumstances.
- Borrow up to 90% of the property value (LTV).
- There are no product fees with this mortgage.
Eligibility
- You need to be an existing member with a Nationwide mortgage that has had at least 1 monthly payment made on it.
- Your existing mortgage, combined with the additional borrowing, is not more than 90% of the value of your home.
- The mortgage term of the additional borrowing cannot exceed the mortgage term of the existing main mortgage account.
- Spend 100% of your additional borrowing on eligible energy-efficient home improvements.
How to access – find out more on the Nationwide website.
Santander is offering advice to homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient, including an EPC Plus, which is similar to a retrofit assessment as part of a mortgage application. And, they provide a £500 cashback for those that take the service up.
They also work with trusted energy companies and installers to help homeowners install solar and heat pumps.
And, lastly, they are providing loans for energy efficiency upgrades.
- If you are a Santander mortgage holder you can apply for a loan of a minimum of £5,000, secured against your home.
- Or, a 6.2% APR representative on loans from £7,500 to £25,000, not held against you home. Credit subject to status.
To find out more about their greener homes programmes – visit their website.
Some contractors and energy companies are seeking ways to support home owners access solar or heat pumps.
When looking at contractor led financing (either as 0% financing or a community energy initiative), it is important to do your due diligence and ask around about people’s experience of working with them. It is worth taking the time to sift through Check-A-Trade, Reddit threads and Google reviews. As well as knocking on neighbour’s doors to find out how they got their solar.
Energy companies are using two models to incentivise the installation of solar for existing customers:
- 0% financing with monthly payment schedules. Companies like Octopus and E.On are doing this.
- Special tarrif reductions (in addition to the Smart Export Guarantee) when going through an identified contractor. For example, British Gas is offering a short term 25% tariff reduction.
Equity release allows homeowners aged 55 or older to free up some equity locked in the value of their home. Equity is the difference between your property’s value and any outstanding loans (such as a mortgage) secured against it. Any lifetime mortgage can be paid lump sum or in drawdown stages.
Like all financial services and home upgrade services, it is very important to do your due diligence and seek council.
We have previously supported The London Rebuilding Society, who are a charitable organisation that work across London and are commited to ensuring that people over 55 can live in healthy homes for healthy lives.
Support for Renters
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If you live in privately rented accommodation, your landlord must ensure your home has an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D. You can look up your EPC here.
Our energy advisors can check that your home is meeting minimum requirements and advocate with your landlord to provide upgrades if not.
London Renter’s Union support people with a variety of housing-related issues. They are not an advice service, a charity or, a law firm. Instead, they take action together by writing letters and peer support. Membership starts from £4 per month.
Landlords can also benefit from much of the funding available to homeowners. Means-tested grants will assess the eligibility of the tenant.
To find out more about plans for your home, contact your local authority or your housing assoiation.
