Can a terraced or semi-detached home get the grant?
Yes. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not rule a home in or out by its type. A mid-terrace, an end-terrace and a semi-detached house are treated the same way as a detached one. What counts is who owns the property, where it is and what heating is being replaced.
Set by the scheme · Ofgem and GOV.UK
Scheme requirements that matter most for terraced and semi-detached homes
These are the main points, not the complete rules. Your installer assesses the full picture when applying.
- The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers England and Wales only.
- The scheme is aimed at property owners, including homeowners, landlords and owners of business premises.
- The scheme supports replacing fossil fuel heating — gas, oil or LPG — or electric heating, but not an existing heat pump.
- Every scheme installation must be carried out by an MCS-certified installer.
Our service · not a scheme rule
How Warm Home Support handles your enquiry
These describe how we look at an enquiry. They are not Boiler Upgrade Scheme requirements, and they do not change what the scheme itself allows.
- We help property owners and landlords. If you rent, the owner needs to be involved before anything can progress — we can explain what to share with them.
- We ask what heats the property now, what type of property it is and whether there is space outside for a heat pump before suggesting a next step.
- Where it looks appropriate, we can help progress your enquiry to an MCS-certified installation partner. Their survey decides what is actually recommended and installed.
- Depending on the property and the installation proposal, a customer contribution may be identified. The exact amount is confirmed after assessment, never before.
- Not every enquiry will suit our service, even where the scheme itself may apply. If that is the case, we will say so plainly.
The complete criteria, with a short checker, are on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme eligibility page.
What the grant pays for, and what it does not
Air-to-water heat pump
£7,500
The standard grant for an eligible air-to-water heat pump replacing gas, oil, LPG or electric heating.
Air-to-air heat pump
£2,500
Residential properties only. Air-to-air systems are not eligible in non-residential buildings.
You can get one grant per property, and it covers heat pumps and biomass boilers only. It does not pay for solar panels or a battery. Your installer applies for it and takes it off your quote.
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant | Other help | |
|---|---|---|
| Air-to-water heat pump | £7,500 | 0% VAT on installation until 31 March 2027 |
| Air-to-air heat pump | £2,500 | 0% VAT on installation until 31 March 2027 |
| Solar panels | Not covered | 0% VAT on installation until 31 March 2027, and export payments |
| Home battery | Not covered | 0% VAT on installation until 31 March 2027 |
Installed solar panels, batteries and heat pumps in homes currently have 0% VAT. The rate is due to return to 5% from 1 April 2027.
Some lower-income households can get solar funded another way. Our solar panel grants guide sets out who qualifies.
How the three property types differ
| Mid-terrace | End-terrace | Semi-detached | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared walls | Two | One | One |
| Heat loss | Usually the lowest of the three for the same size and age, because less wall faces outside | Higher than the house next door, because of the exposed side wall | Similar to an end-terrace |
| Where the outdoor unit usually goes | The rear yard or garden | The rear, or the side if there is a passage | The side passage or the rear garden |
| Worth checking early | How pipework reaches the back of the house, and where the cylinder goes | Which position is furthest from neighbours’ windows | Whether the side passage stays wide enough to use |
A lower heat loss helps twice. The home needs a smaller heat pump, and a smaller unit is easier to place. The room-by-room heat-loss survey gives the real figure for your home.
The boundary rule that used to block terraces
Until 2025, an air source heat pump in England needed a planning application if any part of it was within one metre of the boundary. In a narrow terraced yard, that was often impossible to avoid.
That limit was removed on 29 May 2025. In England, a heat pump can now go in without a planning application where it meets these main limits:
- one outdoor unit, for a house that is not detached;
- an outdoor unit of no more than 1.5 cubic metres, including any housing;
- it passes the MCS noise calculation, which your installer carries out;
- it is not on a pitched roof, and not above ground-floor level on a wall that faces a road;
- the house is not a listed building. Conservation areas have tighter limits on walls and roofs that face a road.
Wales updated its rules on 1 June 2026. The Welsh Government’s list of requirements follows the same pattern: one unit for a home that is not detached, a 1.5 cubic metre limit and a noise assessment. It sets no fixed distance from the boundary.
Noise is now the real test
For a terrace, the question is no longer how far the unit is from the fence. It is whether the unit passes the noise calculation at your neighbours’ windows. If no position passes, a planning application is still open to you, and the council decides.
Planning rules are separate from the grant. Your installer checks both before quoting.
The cylinder and the radiators
Most terraces and semis on gas have a combi boiler and no hot water cylinder. A heat pump almost always needs one, so finding the space is the main indoor job. Airing cupboards, lofts and utility rooms are the usual places.
Some radiators may need to be larger, because a heat pump runs at a lower water temperature than a boiler. The survey shows which rooms. Our guide to whether a home is suitable for a heat pump explains what the survey looks at.
Adding solar panels
Solar panels are a separate purchase, because the grant does not cover them. They are worth pricing at the same time. A heat pump raises the amount of electricity your home uses, and solar offsets part of it.
Solar panels Generate in daylight
Heat pump Runs through the day
Three things decide how much a terraced or semi-detached roof can generate:
- Roof area. A mid-terrace roof is small, and chimneys, roof windows and dormers take space.
- Direction. A terrace has a front slope and a back slope. A slope facing south produces the most, east and west still work, and a north-facing slope produces much less.
- Shade. Chimneys, taller neighbours and trees all cut output.
We do not publish generation or savings figures, because they belong to one roof and one household. An MCS-certified installer should give you an estimate for your own roof in the quote.
Electricity you do not use can be sold. Under the Smart Export Guarantee, suppliers set their own rates and terms, so compare them. A home battery stores daytime solar for the evening instead. Our solar panels page explains what makes a roof suitable.
Can a heat pump and solar bring your bill to zero?
Not reliably, and nobody should promise it.
What pushes the bill down
- If nothing else in the home uses gas, removing the supply ends the gas bill and its standing charge.
- A well-designed heat pump delivers several units of heat for each unit of electricity.
- Solar covers part of your electricity use from spring to autumn, including hot water.
- Export payments earn something back for electricity you do not use.
- A battery or a time-of-use tariff moves more of your use to cheaper hours.
What stops it reaching zero
- Timing. Solar produces most in summer. A heat pump works hardest in winter, on short, dull days.
- Roof size. A terraced or semi-detached roof may not hold enough panels to match a year of heating.
- Standing charges. The electricity standing charge is paid every day, whatever you generate.
- Export rates. Compare what you are paid for a unit you export with what you pay for a unit you import. Where the export rate is lower, a summer surplus does not cancel a winter shortfall one for one.
How close a home gets depends on its roof, its heat loss and its tariff. We do not publish savings figures, and we will not tell you a bill will be zero.
Work out your own figure
Ask for three numbers and put them side by side:
- the heat pump’s expected annual electricity use, from the installer’s performance estimate;
- the solar system’s expected annual generation, and how much of it you are likely to use at home;
- your unit rate, standing charge and export rate.
Our heat pump running costs guide shows how the first number is built.
Be wary of a guaranteed zero bill
A promise of a zero bill, or of free solar panels for any household, should come with the figures behind it in writing. Ask what the estimate assumes for a cold winter, and who keeps the export income.
Doing both in the right order
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Step 1: Check the basics
You own the property, it is in England and Wales, and gas, oil, LPG or electric heating is being replaced.
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Step 2: Heat-loss survey
Room by room, with the outdoor unit position, the noise calculation and the cylinder space checked on the same visit.
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Step 3: Roof survey for solar
Roof area, direction and shade. The installer also checks that your electricity supply can take both systems.
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Step 4: Itemised quotes
The heat pump quote shows the grant deducted. Solar panels and any battery are priced separately, because the grant does not cover them.
-
Step 5: Grant application
The installer applies. Ofgem contacts you to confirm the details, and you have 14 days to respond.
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Step 6: Installation and tariffs
Once both are in, compare electricity tariffs and export tariffs. The right pair matters as much as the equipment.
Warm Home Support is an information and enquiry service, not an installer. If you want solar looked at alongside a heat pump, say so when you enquire. Any survey or quotation is carried out by a suitably qualified installer, and for a Boiler Upgrade Scheme heat pump that must be an MCS-certified installer.
Check your property
Tell us what heats your home and whether you own it. We will take you to our eligibility check with those answers filled in. It is free, and nothing is sent until you choose to send it.
