If you’ve mostly seen the Boiler Upgrade Scheme covered as a homeowner grant, you’d be forgiven for assuming it doesn’t apply to rental properties. It does, and always has. What’s changed recently is how the scheme works, and its end date now lines up with the EPC C deadline in a way that’s worth understanding rather than coincidental.
At a glance
- Landlords are eligible: private landlords can claim, with no limit on the number of properties.
- Grant amounts: £7,500 for air/ground/water source heat pumps, £2,500 for air-to-air heat pumps, £5,000 for biomass boilers.
- Temporary uplift: off-gas-grid properties switching from oil or LPG get an extra £1,500 (to £9,000) until 31 March 2027.
- No EPC needed: since April 2026, an EPC is no longer required to apply.
- Runs to 2030: the scheme’s end date was extended specifically to align with the EPC C deadline for rentals.
Confirmed in Ofgem’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme guidance.
The short answer: yes, and it always has been.
Private landlords are, and have consistently been, eligible for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme on the same terms as homeowners. There’s no income test, no requirement that the property be your main residence, and no cap on how many properties you can claim for: if you own ten gas-heated rentals and replace the heating in all ten, you can claim £7,500 for each one. Limited company landlords qualify too. The only category explicitly excluded is social housing; private rentals of every other kind, including HMOs (provided the property is a single dwelling on a single heating system), are covered. For flats on electric heating, an air-to-air system may be the simpler option; see our air-to-air heat pump guide.
What changed in April 2026?
A set of rule changes took effect on 28 April 2026 that are worth knowing about even if you looked at BUS a year or two ago and moved on. An EPC is no longer required to apply: installers can now submit alternative evidence instead, such as a utility bill showing the existing fuel type plus photographs of the current heating system. Air-to-air heat pumps became eligible for the first time at £2,500. The grant is now deducted upfront from the quoted price rather than reimbursed after the fact, so you see the discounted figure from the start rather than fronting the full cost and waiting. And the scheme’s end date moved from 2028 to 2030.
Why 2030? The timing isn’t a coincidence.
That last change is the one worth pausing on. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme’s new end date was set to align with the 2030 EPC C compliance deadline covered in our EPC rules for landlords guide. Practically, that means the grant most likely to help you hit the fabric and heating requirements of the new EPC standard will still be available right up to the deadline you’re working toward, rather than expiring years beforehand and leaving a gap. It’s also worth noting the numbers line up reasonably well: A £7,500 heat pump grant goes a long way against the proposed £10,000 cost cap for reaching EPC C, potentially covering the bulk of a heat pump installation within that budget. That said, it’s worth checking our heat pump vs insulation comparison first, since cheaper fabric measures often get you further per pound than the heat pump route alone.
The practical details
There’s no formal requirement to get tenant consent before installing a heat pump, though the property doesn’t need to be vacant for the work to happen, and coordinating timing with your tenant is sensible practice to avoid disputes regardless of what’s legally required. The property currently needs to be heated by a fossil fuel system or an electric system that isn’t already a heat pump, and it needs to be in England or Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate schemes). Installation has to be carried out by an MCS-certified installer; this is now a formal legal requirement under the scheme’s rules rather than just standard industry practice.
FAQs
Do I need my tenant’s permission to install a heat pump?
There’s no formal consent requirement under the scheme itself, but as with any works to an occupied property, giving proper notice and agreeing timing with your tenant is good practice and avoids disputes.
Is there a limit on how many properties I can claim for?
No. Each eligible property can claim its own grant, so a landlord with multiple qualifying properties can apply for each one.
Do HMOs qualify?
Yes, provided the HMO is a single dwelling on a single heating system rather than multiple separately metered units.
Do I still need an EPC to apply?
No, since the April 2026 changes an EPC is no longer required; installers can use alternative evidence such as a utility bill and photos of the existing system instead.
Final thoughts
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme has never excluded landlords, but the 2026 changes make it noticeably easier to use: no EPC needed, the discount applied upfront, and an end date deliberately set to still be running when the EPC C deadline arrives. For a landlord weighing up how to reach EPC C within the proposed £10,000 cap, this grant is likely to be the single biggest lever available