NRLA welcomes changes to Green Homes Grants
Landlords are welcoming news the Government has changed the Green Homes Grant Scheme installer terms and conditions for subcontractors, to overcome the challenges landlords and homeowners are facing finding an installer.
Amongst the key changes announced, while installers must still have TrustMark status, subcontractors are no longer required to be TrustMark registered and PAS or MCS certified. However, any subcontracted work must still be carried out in accordance with the relevant PAS or MCS requirements.
The changes came into effect yesterday (Monday 4th January 2021) and apply to vouchers issued from this date onwards until further notice.
NRLA Deputy Director of Campaigns, Meera Chindooroy said: “Yesterday’s announcement is good news for landlords. We have had an incredible amount of interest from our members following the Green Homes Grant announcement. However, we heard from a large proportion of members who said they were having huge problems finding local installers with capacity to carry out the work and this was causing a backlog. We fed these case studies back to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to highlight our concerns.
“We welcome the news of these changes and encourage landlords to make use of this important initiative.”
The NRLA has long campaigned for further funding to be made available to help landlords to go above and beyond the legal minimum of energy efficiency measures set out by the Government for the PRS. With the grants, which were extended to March 2022, landlords will be able to claim up to £5,000 per rental property.
The NRLA Green Homes Grant campaign has been underway since October, encouraging landlords to apply for a voucher towards the cost of installing energy efficient and low-carbon heating improvements in their homes. To help navigate the application process for the Green Homes Grant Scheme, members can read a step-by-step guide to accessing the grants on the NRLA website.
As the Green Homes Grant scheme is available to landlords and homeowners in England only, the NRLA is also campaigning for the Welsh Government to replicate the scheme.
The updated installer terms and conditions can be found at https://green-homes-grant.service.gov.uk/installer-terms-and-conditions.
