Guide
Solar for council and housing association tenants
About a quarter of Liverpool households rent from a council or housing association, 26.4% at the 2021 Census against 17.1% across England. None of them can apply for Warm Homes: Local Grant. Their homes are improved through a different fund, run through their landlords.
Where you stand
Warm Homes: Local Grant is for privately owned homes, so social tenants can't apply. Councils and housing associations can bid for the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund for their own homes. The way in is to ask your landlord whether your home is in its programme.
Why not the local grant
Privately owned homes only
GOV.UK's description of Warm Homes: Local Grant says the home must be privately owned, either by you or your landlord. A home owned by a council or a housing association isn't privately owned in that sense, so it falls outside the scheme however low the household's income.
Sefton Council's page states it directly: if you live in a property owned by a housing association, contact them, because you aren't eligible for this scheme; your housing association may have access to the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, which offers similar works. The same logic applies in Liverpool.
The other fund
The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund
The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund pays for energy improvements to social homes in England. Landlords bid for it and run the work across their stock, which is why tenants don't apply individually. DESNZ publishes regular statistics on the measures installed and homes upgraded under it.
The Combined Authority's ToastyHomes programme lists the fund among the projects it works on with councils and housing associations. Which homes are included, and whether solar panels are part of the package, is decided by each landlord.
Side by side
The two Warm Homes funds
| Warm Homes: Local Grant | Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund | |
|---|---|---|
| Homes | Privately owned or privately rented | Council and housing association homes |
| Who applies | The household (or landlord) registers | The social landlord bids |
| Run locally by | Liverpool City Council, Sefton Council or the Combined Authority | Your landlord |
| Your step | Register through the GOV.UK portal or the council | Ask your landlord |
What to ask
Questions for your landlord
- Is my home included in a Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund bid, or in your own improvement programme?
- If so, what work is planned, and roughly when?
- Are solar panels or batteries being considered for homes like mine?
- What's my home's current EPC rating?
- If my home isn't included, why not, and is it on a future list?
Ask in writing, by email or through your landlord's online account, so you have a record of the reply.
Doing it yourself
Can a tenant install panels?
A social tenancy doesn't give you the right to alter the roof. Installing panels would need your landlord's written permission, and a social landlord may refuse, for example over maintenance or insurance. Plug-in solar, which the August 2026 changes in England brought within permitted development, is a separate case: ask your landlord before buying any kit.
If someone offers to fit panels to your council or housing association home through a grant, be very cautious: you can't consent to work on a roof you don't own. See grant scams.
Warmth now
If the home is cold or damp today
Improvement funds take time. If your home is cold, damp or mouldy now, that's a repair matter: report it to your landlord in writing, describe the problem and when it started, and keep copies. Your landlord's complaints process is the next step if nothing happens. Liverpool City Council's fuel bills page also points to help with energy costs.
Bills
Help with energy costs
Being outside the local grant doesn't mean being outside all help. Liverpool City Council's fuel bills and energy efficiency page links to advice on bills and lists a Household Energy Payment 2027, which it describes as a one-off £100 towards rising energy costs, with details of who qualifies. See other energy help.
If panels are fitted
When your landlord installs solar
If your landlord fits panels, ask how they're connected. Usually they supply your home first, so electricity they generate during the day reduces what you buy from the grid. Ask whether any export payments go to you or to the landlord, whether a battery is included, and who to call if the system stops working. A good landlord will explain how to get the most from it, for example by running appliances during the day.
Buying your home
If you're buying your council or housing association home
If you complete the purchase of your home, it becomes privately owned and the Warm Homes: Local Grant tests can then apply to it like any other: an EPC of D to G and one of the three household pathways. Until the sale completes, the home belongs to your landlord, and any improvement is a matter for its own programme.
Social housing questions
Can I apply for Warm Homes: Local Grant as a housing association tenant?
No. GOV.UK says the home must be privately owned, and Sefton Council’s page says housing association tenants aren’t eligible and should contact their landlord.
Can I put solar panels on my housing association home myself?
Only with your landlord’s written permission, which it may refuse. Ask before spending anything.
How do I find out if my home is in a programme?
Ask your landlord directly whether your home is included in any Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund bid or its own improvement programme, and when work might happen.
What if my home is cold or damp now?
Report it to your landlord in writing. Repairs and damp are the landlord’s responsibility, separately from any improvement scheme.
Sources for this page
- GOV.UK › Apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant to improve a home, read 3 November 2026
- Sefton Council › Warm Homes Local Grant, read 3 November 2026
- DESNZ › Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund statistics (England), read 4 November 2026
- Liverpool City Region Combined Authority › Warm Homes Local Grant, read 3 November 2026
- Nomis › Census 2021 TS054, tenure, read 3 November 2026
- Liverpool City Council › Fuel bills and energy efficiency, read 3 November 2026
- legislation.gov.uk › SI 2026/896, permitted development for solar in England, read 2 November 2026
A question about solar funding in Liverpool?
Tell us what you're trying to find out. Your message reaches SEO-DONS LTD, which publishes this guide, and we answer by email. We don't run any grant scheme, decide eligibility or install panels, but we can point you to the scheme and the council that does.
What happens next
- Your message reaches SEO-DONS LTD, publisher of this guide.
- We answer by email, pointing to the scheme or council that applies.
- Any application is made to the council or scheme itself.