Tenant - ECO4 Insulation Scheme

OneHandInMyPocket

Hi,  I rent a 1 bedroom flat in a converted Victorian house.  The property has changed landlords once in the past 10 years I have been there.  The current landlords tried to sell the property over the last four of years – this involved numerous viewings in my absence. The tenancy and property is overseen by an agent. The landlord receives the gas and electric bills.  The gas is “included” in rent and I receive a bill from the landlords agents for the electric about 4 times a year.

I received a short text message from the agent telling me I would be “contacted by an energy assessor to discuss any energy improvements to the property”.

I was contacted by someone who said they wanted to take pictures of the radiators in my flat and boiler (I don’t have a boiler, my flat is fed by a boiler in another flat – which I don’t have access to).  They attached a leaflet about GOV ECO4 Grants.

I said I could send photos of the radiators assuming they wanted to see the controls and sent them.

I was telephoned by someone, who said briefly something about cavity wall insulation.  I was asked if I’m on benefits and if I earned under £31k.
  

They arranged for an energy surveyor to come to the flat to do an energy survey (again notified by text).  They took measurements and photographs, they then said we just need a copy of photo ID and your council tax bill if you have it and proof of income!  I didn’t know anything about this!  I was also asked to sign 3 documents.  I thought one would be sufficient to prove he’d been – the others seem to be about giving them permission to use my details. They also said they were looking into installing insulation board.

No one explained properly the process beforehand or asked me to use my personal information for this scheme and nothing has come from the landlords or agents in writing. 
 

I’ve always been cautious about kicking up a fuss being a tenant. 

QrizB

It sounds as though your landlord and his agent need to be better communicators.

ECO4 is a long-established scheme (there was ECO3 before it) under which the energy companies pay for energy-efficiency upgrades to low-income homes. However it's not clear to me that it applies when you're not the energy account holder; for all we know, the other tenants in your building might all be multi-millionaires!