Now we know the GDHIF solid wall grant lasted all of 30 hours when the second round of funding was released in December, but for those who got it, it is obviously a great way to make the payback of solid wall insulation just a few years. Insulating your home can reduce your heating bill by as much as half – so definitely a worthwhile investment in our opinion.
As a reminder, the Green Deal Home Improvement fund allowed people to access a grant of £4,000 towards the cost of solid wall insulation – although this £4,000 could only cover 67% of the total cost of works – i.e if a total solid wall insulation job cost £6,000 then the homeowner would be able to get the full £4,000 – if the total cost of the job was under £6,000 then the homeowner would get less than this.
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Now the great news is that we expect the grant to come back in the same form (i.e. still the £4,000) in February, so if you missed it last time, you should still take advantage of it.
Getting the GDHIF grant if you reside in a flat
More specifically here, we wanted to discuss getting the GDHIF grant when you live in a flat.
We have been getting a huge number of queries in the last few weeks from people living in flats who want to take advantage of the scheme, wondering whether the GDHIF grant is split over the entire block of flats or whether each individual can claim their own £4,000 allowance – well the great news is that each flat can access the grant (provided they have separate electricity meters and are separate properties on the land register), thereby dramatically reducing the cost of the works for each flat owner.
Take for example a house that has been converted into a block of three flats. As one house, the maximum GHDIF grant would have been just £4,000 – however since each of the flats can claim the individual GHDIF allowance, then combined the householders would be able to get £12,000 – which for many properties more than covers the entire install cost.
Each flat can get their own GDHIF allowance for solid wall insulation
The quotes provided by the installer will need to be per flat though to allow the occupants to make the claim. The quote will also need to be split based on area being insulated too – so take for example a house with three floors split into two flats. The overall quote will need to be split 1:2, so the person with the larger two floor flat will have a higher quote for the works, but also should be able to claim a higher GDHIF payment.
Obviously the Government does not want solid wall to be given away for free (like cavity wall insulation and loft insulation) hence they are making homeowners make a contribution, but that for many people in a flat would be limited to just £1,000 or less – which could pay back in a matter of years.
It is unlikely the scheme will last forever in this format however. We heard from DECC recently saying that ‘At the moment each flat is treated as a separate dwelling therefore the normal rules for GDHIF apply i.e. they can each apply for support’. Reading between the lines here – we thought the opening ‘At the moment’ sounded rather ominous, so if you do reside in a block of flats we recommend acting fast!
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