Can renters, leaseholders and park home owners get a heat pump grant?

Most explainers about UK heat pump grants assume you own a standard freehold house outright. If that's not your situation, it's easy to assume you're simply not eligible — but for two of these three groups, that's not quite right.

If you rent your home

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant is claimed by whoever owns the property, which for a rented home means your landlord, not you. The good news is that landlords are explicitly eligible — BUS covers rental properties with no limit on how many a landlord can claim for, and no income test. If you'd like a heat pump installed, the practical step is raising it with your landlord and pointing them to the scheme; many landlords aren't aware their fossil-fuel heated rental properties qualify for a straightforward £7,500 grant.

Separately, ECO4 is assessed around the household rather than the property owner, so if you (the tenant) receive a qualifying benefit, a private rented property can potentially access ECO4 funding too — though your landlord's permission and cooperation is still needed for the installation itself.

If you own a leasehold flat

Leasehold ownership generally qualifies for the same grants as a freehold house — the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and ECO4 don't distinguish between the two in terms of eligibility. The complication is practical, not financial: installing a heat pump usually means fitting an outdoor unit somewhere on the building, which is typically classed as an alteration to the building exterior or communal area. That means you'll usually need:

• Written consent from your freeholder or management company before work starts
• Confirmation from your lease of who's responsible for exterior walls and where equipment can legally be sited
• Sometimes, agreement from other leaseholders if the installation affects shared spaces

None of this affects your grant eligibility itself — it's a building-consent step that sits alongside it. Start the consent conversation with your freeholder early, ideally before you get quotes, since installers will need to know where the outdoor unit can legally go.

If you live in a park home or static caravan

This is the group where the standard advice genuinely doesn't apply. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme usually isn't available to residential park homes, because BUS requires a property to have valid EPC and property-status documentation that most park homes were never assessed against in the same way as conventional houses — so most owners should plan on the assumption that BUS won't apply, though an MCS-certified installer can confirm your specific case.

ECO4 is the realistic route for most park home owners instead. Because ECO4 is assessed around the household's benefits status and income rather than the property's EPC, and because many park homes are occupied by older or lower-income residents on qualifying benefits, park homes are often treated as a priority under ECO4 — sometimes covering both a heat pump and the insulation upgrades (wall, floor and glazing) that older park homes typically need first to make a heat pump run efficiently.

A practical note: park homes sit on a chassis rather than solid foundations, so the outdoor unit needs its own stable base rather than being fixed to the home itself, and you'll need your site operator's written permission before installing external equipment — most are supportive, but get it in writing early.

Not sure which category you fall into?

Eligibility rules like these shift based on small details of your situation. Answer a few quick questions below and we'll give you a personalised read on which schemes you're likely to qualify for.