Grants available for homes improvements & energy efficiency

lplsstone

i purchased my home in 2006 i had a structural survey done at the time of purchase and everything was fine, the house was originally a council house untill 2005 when it was purchased from the council by the then owner. just before christmas my boiler broke, this boiler had been in the property since i purchased it, i had never had any trouble with the boiler before untill now. i had asked a plumber to come and view the boiler to see if it could be fixed he said no and also told me to be careful as he had noticed my ceiling were artex and also i had a rather large crack in the ceiling near the boiler, he beleived that due to the age of the house the ceiling and boiler would almost certainly contain asbestos. i was shocked and i arranged to have the ceilings tested and the boiler. It cost we £200 to have this checked, the results came back detailing i had asbestos in all my ceilings in the house and the boiler. as i have quite a few cracks in my downstairs ceilings i am worried that myself and my children are being exposed to the asbestos, I have been quoted £3500 to remove 3 ceilings and the boiler, (all my pipes may have to be removed also but i am waiting for confirmation on that) this is not including replacing the ceilings or replacing the central heating system, which at present i am still living without.

I was wondering if anyone knows if there is anyway i could try to retrieve some of these costs back, i have recently been made redundant and i am no longer working. any saving i have will have to pay for this but how i will then afford replacing the central heating and the ceilings i don't know?
is there anyway i could claim something back from the council as they built the original house???
i appreciate any advice on this
thanks

rosepink

I am helping an elderly lady apply for a new boiler from Warmfront.They are booked in to come and do a survey on 21 may but while I have been away last week it would appear that someone rang to say the survey will cost about £30. Is this correct as she is on Pension credit and would get the boiler for no payment plus any other insulation needed. She is without hot water at the moment and we know the Warmfront can take 3-4 months.
Any information would be most gratefully received!

Rhodie1000

My house is very cold. I recently replaced the heating system and in the process the floorboards were damaged. Are there any grants available to help insulate underneath the floorboards?

harryhound

Rhodie1000 wrote: »

My house is very cold. I recently replaced the heating system and in the process the floorboards were damaged. Are there any grants available to help insulate underneath the floorboards?

Can you crawl underneath from a trap door in (say) the cupboard under the stairs?

02139756

I decided to get the free insulation offer through an energy company. The guy come round 31.11.12 (after i had taken a day off work) told me that I would receive the insulation free of charge, including my invoice, with 100% grant written on it. I am now told that the work cannot be carried out as funding as ceased.

I am dissapointed (especially as i had to take a day off!) and was wondering it this was possible.

What can

thor

My mum is in a similar situation to you. Someone had inspected the loft and said she qualified for free insulation and got her to sign the survey form which has 'nil' put down as the cost. A couple of weeks ago I took a call for her from the insulation company who wanted to arrange a date to come in and install the insulation. I repeatedly asked about the government withdrawing funding at the end of 2012 only to be told that they had decided to reverse their decision and funding was going to be continued. I'm still not too sure how much of that I believe as I have still to see anything in the media or the Internet which says that the scheme will continue but as the installers are due in just over a weeks time I guess I will find out then.

samtan_2

does anybody know if you are entitled to the home improvement grant if you own another property, that you have let out?

maxinex

all private tenants and home owners are entitled to energy improvements if they meet a benefit criteria. this includes child tax credit. pension credit. job seekers etc. free replacement boilers are available under this scheme. all the work is funded by the energy companies. if you are a landlord as long as your tenants meet the criteria there is no limit to the number of properties that can benefit. we do this in the north west but there are nationwide companies that do it. email us at energy@tesco.net for further info. more info on the scheme can be found at ofgem.com/eco

maxinex

samtan wrote: »

does anybody know if you are entitled to the home improvement grant if you own another property, that you have let out?

see my post

ghostrider13

I received a flyer recently about getting a free boiler and loft/wall insulation, I seemed to meet the criteria, so started to fill in the online registration form. I got to the end and found the usual tick box for accepting the terms and conditions and privacy box and just for a change I read them, buried a fair way in was a data protection statement, amongst which was this little gem:
Third parties
In connection with the above purposes, your personal information may be transferred to, or otherwise processed by, other members of our corporate group, third party service providers acting on our behalf, our agents and law enforcement authorities (including the police). This may involve the cross-border transfer of your personal information outside the UK to countries that may not provide equivalent protection for your personal information as the UK

Are they serious? Does this comply with the Data Protection Act? I very much doubt it.
A bit further on they mention doing credit checks, we all know spurious credit checks can damage your credit rating.
Surely all this should be in large size text on the form? Not buried in the small print.

For a government sponsored scheme to carry such clauses seems just plain wrong to me, given how we are all meant to be taking much more care about who has our data and how they use it!!