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Boiling Over: NRLA slams government over boiler policy for landlords

A piecemeal approach to how the private rental sector meets government climate change targets is fraught with problems, the landlords trade body says.

The government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy published this week says grants of £5,000 will be made available to households - including landlords - to replace gas boilers with systems such as heat pumps.

Following discussions with the National Residential Landlords Association the government has confirmed that landlords will be able to apply for these grants from April next year.

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However, despite the publication of the long-awaited strategy, the NRLA says the government has again failed to provide the clarity needed by private landlords to plan for the future of their businesses – pledging to publish further information before the end of the year. 

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, says: “Eighty per cent of private rented households have gas central heating and replacing such systems will be both costly and vital to achieving net zero.

“Providing grants to assist householders and landlords to install heat pumps is a welcome step, but much more is needed to make the government’s targets achievable.

“Once again private landlords have been left waiting for the government to publish details of the standards they will be required to comply with, the deadlines they must meet, and how such work should be funded.”

 

 

The government has declared that new gas boilers will no longer be sold after 2035.

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng says the grants to support the adoption of heat pumps, available from next spring, would help reduce the cost of the relatively new technology by 2030.

Currently an air source heat pump costs £6,000 to £18,000, depending on size and energy generation. 

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    I bet the government are really worried about being ‘slammed’ by Ben Beadle.
    This man supposedly representing landlords is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

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    £5k towards a heat pump, then you have to install solar to run it efficiently, or super insulate the house. This doesn’t go far enough, if they truly want to get people to change, they need to assess each case, and give grants on a case by case basis.
    Might be better incentivising the gas companies to produce bio-gas and bio-oil with tax breaks!

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    From a LL perspective installing a heat pump doesn't seem to guarantee you an EPC C (powered by electricity) so its a no go anyway.

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    I can't see many people taking up this offer.

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    If you have a gas boiler on an apartment then the heat pump is not an option

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    Your right, We'll end up with them all hanging on the walls outside like they do abroad with air con units,. Another option is to install infrared panels, they are cheap to run and work very well. Cheap to install as well.

     
  • Matthew Payne

    Replacing gas boilers with these expensive pumps is going to cost £500 billion, this funding covers less than 1% and that doesnt take inflation into account over the coming decades or that we are up to our necks in debt. It will take the best part of the rest of this century, bearing mind the cost, the time it will take to manufacture and fit 25 million pumps, the fact that many properties cant even have pumps fitted which is the larger issue and for that reason I dont think they will be the long term solution, simply because of their size, cost and capabilities.

    They arent the right solution for retro fitting older properties, blocks of flats and only really work well if a property has the highest standard of insulation so that rules out a lot of older housing where you have solid walls for example. They are also incapable of properly heating larger properties unless they start making the units even bigger than they are now, and even then in the midst of the depths of winter in Jan & Feb, struggle to generate the heat required. In mild winters they seem to cope, but Ive heard people complaining they need to use heaters to compensate when we get a cold one. There is no substitute for burning stuff, so it may well be hydrogen boilers that can be more easily accommodated internally, and are much cheaper become the leading long term solution. I wont be rushing out to get a pump until I see how this unfolds.

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    It’s an unrealistic scheme, but then when did any Government body have a sensible proposal.
    Heat Pumps are not the answer.

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    Green doesn't work Boris, wake up man

  • George Dawes

    Solar in the uk ?

    It rains c. 300 days of the year !!

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    True not sure what the answer is, fossell fuels will run out, its just a matter of when. So a solution needs to be found, personally I think the way forward is solar farms, wind farms on a giant scale, swansea tidl lagoon for example, reservoirs that pump water up when solar and wind available and realease when needed, individual solar and winf etc isnt in my opinion the best way forward, communal heat pump systems maybe, but doing nothing isnt an option either

     
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    So I had a long conversation with a building regs officer yesterday, and following that I now understand why infrared panels have not been the easy go to solution for anyone unable to fit heat pumps. It’s the way that SAPs are worked out because they are still assuming that electric panels use fossil fuels to create the electric. They are in the process of updating the way they work this out based on the amount of renewable energy that is now created, so when this is adopted next year, I think you will find these infrared panels will be the go to for anyone not wanting to fit a heat pump. Solar and infrared panels throughout an average 100m2 house would only cost around £6-10k and you would get the added benefit of reducing electric bills across all usage. Watch this space! .

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    That sounds like it will help any electrical heat system :) Putting green tariffs on gas will also help level up the playing field.

    I think we may all have to get used to paying more for our energy in the future - cheap gas will not be a cheap option anymore :(

     
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    What a ridiculous plan to save energy by costing so much money.
    On spain most homes don't have central heating. But it can get very cold usually for a couple of months.
    They either use their aircon (heat pumps) as heaters which is expensive.
    But no different from summer aircon use.
    Or wood/pellet burning boilers
    I'm not sure what the cost for those are in UK.
    Hmmm.....

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    I had a biomass pellet boiler fitted 6 yrs ago £18k, I will get my last RHI payment next yr then it's coming out and an oil boiler fitted

     
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    Not for me.......too expensive and none of the issues surrounding bigger radiators, super insulated homes, larger diameter pipework (in the walls) and all the work involved to achieve this total destruction of your current home has even been talked about, it's all focused on a small amount of electrical work and then a rather ughly square fan on the outside of your property....... it is way more than that, as usual we are being sold a pup. I am sitting where i am until more is known, early adopters to this will be paying a hefty price.

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