Warm Homes Plan - The Property Institute

"We welcome the significant investment announced in the Government’s Warm Homes Plan, which offers support for progressing retrofits in homes managed by our members to make them warmer, more sustainable and less expensive to heat. We are also pleased to see the Government recognise that blocks of flats require different solutions to energy efficiency and decarbonisation than single houses. It’s also positive to see the complexity and challenge presented by leases in making homes warmer recognised in the Plan too – a vital point that The Property Institute (TPI) has been flagging with Government for years now.

“However, as with other similar Government programmes in the past, it remains to be seen if the Warm Homes Plan will be able to deliver specific support for flats in tall and complex buildings. Leasehold flats account for 3.5m homes - 14% of all dwellings in England - which without targeted support, could be left behind. 

“While we welcome the proposed £1.1bn investment in heat networks, which could potentially help to reduce energy costs for flat owners, and the inclusion of air-to-air heat pumps in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, it is not yet clear which, if any, of the funding programmes will be available to upgrade multi-occupancy buildings.

“Flats within complex leasehold blocks can rarely be retrofitted effectively in isolation as the plan rightly accepts, therefore there must be buy in from the freeholder and all leaseholders to provide building-wide retrofit solutions. We are keen to work with government to ensure that these complexities are accounted for to ensure that millions of leaseholders are not locked out of much needed funding and the benefit of living in more energy efficient buildings with reduced energy bills. 

“TPI has been continuously raising legal challenges and concerns around energy poverty for flat owners. Millions are living in cold, damp and draughty flats that are inefficient and expensive to heat, with minimal rights to address these issues due to lease constraints. The Government needs to address these issues specifically to ensure that leaseholders have the warm, sustainable and safe homes they deserve.”