Heating, grants and oil help?

diz79

Hi

I dont know if anyone can help, but Im currently trying to sort out my nans old place, it's in the middle of nowhere, ha, I'm currently living in it,  all the heating it has in it is an old fireplace and two very old storoage heaters, one in the dinning room and one out of action, the kitchen, bathroom back room, hallway and second bedroom have no heating the fireplace is in the living room. its a bungalow with two dormers upstairs, I use an electric oil heater in one of the upstairs bedroom. All the local neighbours are using oil based heating systems and from the research ive done it seems the most reasonable.

There is a lot of information about government grants up to 2022 but its not always clear, I am not a home owner and currently on furlough due to obvious reasons, can I get any help, my dad and my auntie inherited it and it needs a lot of work, ive done some already on different parts but being its the winter we need to sort the heating. They are both in their 60s and still working, both already own a home each (one still has a mortgage), from what i gather becaue of this its difficult to get help? I think if they both earned less than £30000 were retired or landlords they would get help? One of them does earn over £30000 as they live in London so salaries are higher, is there a way they can still get some help?

Sorry if a bit long, thanks in advance.

Gerry1

Use the NSHs in the short term.  It should be relatively straightforward to get the second NSH back into service, probably a failed fuse, thermostat or element.

matelodave

You've generally got to be in your 70's or older or be in receipt of benefits to get help with heating, a circumstance which appears to rule your place out on several counts.
There'll probably be a marked reluctance to giving a grant if the place is effectively a second home.However I dont know whether the situation would be different if they were properly landlords and therefore properly renting the place - possibly worth exploring

As Gerry says you might be better off sorting out the storage heating to get you through this winter especially if you are already on an off-peak tariff as running an oil filled rad on peak rate leccy can be very expensive

diz79

Ok thanks guys, you confirmed what I was thinking, the only thing that threw me was I was aware landlords could get help. One question though, the storage heaters we have do have asbestos inside them, is it OK to move the heaters providing we dont  open them? They are the very old grey ones 60s or 70s?

diz79

I said "they do have"and I had already checked the model etc,  my question is are they safe to move if asbestos is inside? This is not clear when searching model etc