London landlords missing out on share of £90million grant

Published: 25/04/2013

London landlords may be missing out on the opportunity to have home improvements paid on their properties for under the ECO scheme, latest analysis by the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS).

Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a scheme initiated by the government and subsidised by energy companies which provides funding for home improvement such as better insulation.

However it is up to the landlord to claim their share.

As a result London homes have historically missed out on their stake of the pool and instead a large chunk of the money was given to other parts in the UK; North West properties are nearly three-times more likely to receive such grants than those in London.

David Princep is the Chairman of London Landlord Accreditation Scheme:

“There’s a lot of ECO money now available but without training, landlord may struggle to get all the grant funding they’re entitled to. The government’s told the energy companies to create different pots of Energy Company Obligation funding. The first and biggest part of the money is going to homes that are expensive to insulate, especially older properties.

“Victorian homes are very common in London and most of them could potentially benefit from this money. Other ECO money is going to homes where the residents are on lower incomes, and for particular poorer communities.

“Landlords sometimes have a bad reputation, but at LLAS we work with thousands of landlords who are committed to providing high quality housing for their tenants. It’s great that ECO will provide new funding to improve the warmth and comfort of their homes. One in four homes in London is rented privately and this money could have a huge impact.”

Content correct at time of publication