It’s time to speak to your landlord

Making changes to electricity and home heating is not as simple when you’re in rented accommodation as if you own your own place. But that being said, it is definitely still doable! Landlords have a huge role to play in cleaning up the UK’s housing stock, and as a tenant - you can make sure they step up and take action.

Will you ask your landlord to consider getting a heat pump?

We’ve drafted the email below for you to use, but feel free to personalise it - you’ll know best how to approach your landlord. And if you’d prefer to have a chat with them first, here are some handy facts that you might want to use.

Energy use in homes accounts for 14% of UK emissions. Source: Committee on Climate Change

17 million UK homes still use gas boilers, burning tonnes of fossil fuels to stay warm. Source: Octopus That’s over 85% of homes relying on fossil gas. Source: Statista

Around 1 in 5 gas boilers break down in a British winter Source: Which

For every kW of electricity you give a heat pump, it creates between 2-4 kW of heat (and sometimes even more!), making them up to four times more efficient than traditional boilers (which generate 0.9 kW of heat per kW of gas). Source: Octopus

Heating buildings is in the top three contributors to UK annual emissions, accounting for between 20 and 25% of all emissions. Source: BEIS

Draft email

Subject - Please consider installing a heat pump for your address

Dear your landlord's name,

As a conscientious tenant, I want to live in a home that's healthy, warm and comfortable - without the pollution that’s damaging our health and holding us back on tackling climate change.

If we are going to get ahead on climate change, we have to upgrade and update the heating in our homes by making the switch to heat pumps. Heat pumps are a smart and simple tech - they work a bit like a fridge in reverse: taking heat naturally stored in the air or ground, compressing it and pumping it into homes. Heat pumps are the smart way to go: they are reliable (unlike the one in five gas boilers that break down every winter), easy to maintain and good for the environment. They move us forward on climate change.

Could you get a heat pump for the properties you own?

[If based in England and Wales] Right now, there’s a government scheme available called the Boiler Upgrade Scheme which is open to homeowners and landlords In England and Wales. Through the scheme, you could get a grant of up to £7,500 towards the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating systems with a heat pump.

[If based in Scotland] Right now, there’s a government scheme available through Home Energy Scotland which provides an interest-free loan or a grant to make your home more energy efficient, including towards a heat pump installation.

To find out more about the benefits of a heat pump and how they could work at this address visit https://www.getaheatpump.org.uk/ where you can also find an MCS certified installer to give you a quote and get the ball rolling.

Thank you,

Your name