Warm Homes grants in the Tees Valley, council by council

Two schemes, five councils

The Warm Homes: Local Grant pays for insulation, solar panels, heat pumps and other upgrades in low-income households, at no cost to the household. The government funds it; councils run it locally.

In the Tees Valley, four councils have pooled their funding into one partnership led by Darlington, with E.ON arranging the work. Hartlepool runs its own scheme. The rules are close, but not the same, and the differences matter most to landlords.

National rules allow spending of up to an average of £16,600 per home on energy upgrades, plus up to £16,600 on low-carbon heating (July 2026 guidance). Some council pages still show the earlier £15,000 figures.

Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Darlington

All four use the same scheme, delivered by Darlington Borough Council with E.ON Green Funding Solutions as the installer. You qualify if you own your home or rent it from a private landlord, it's rated D to G, and you meet one income test: a household income of £36,000 or less, a qualifying benefit such as Universal Credit or Pension Credit, or living in an eligible postcode. An eligible postcode doesn't guarantee funding.

No EPC? The council can arrange a survey. Every home is assessed before work starts, and any existing defects may need fixing first, at the owner's cost. The council may turn down applications from households it doesn't consider at risk of fuel poverty.

Apply: E.ON, on 03332 024820 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm), or through E.ON's grant finder online.

Hartlepool

Warm Homes Hartlepool is the council's own scheme, with stricter rules on where and what it funds. The home must be in an area the government classes as deprived, and the household must have an income under £36,000 or receive a qualifying means-tested benefit. Homes with the lowest ratings and lowest incomes go first.

Owner-occupied homes rated D to G qualify, but privately rented homes must be rated D or E. (Rentals rated F or G can't legally be let without a registered exemption, so the scheme won't fund them.) Tenants need their landlord's permission to apply. The council aims to review applications within two weeks, but says demand is high and not every application will succeed.

Apply: Warm Homes Hartlepool online application, with proof of occupancy and income.

Where the need is

Across the four partnership councils, 88,722 owner-occupied and privately rented homes are rated D to G. The partnership says its £14 million can help up to 700 of them.

Not every one of those households would qualify on income. But even so, the money covers a small fraction of the homes in the bands the scheme targets. If you're eligible, apply early. If you're not, the upgrades still need a plan.

Homes rated D–G on their latest certificate, by the tenure recorded on it, from our July 2026 analysis of the national register. Hartlepool's rented figure counts only D and E, which is what its scheme funds.

Landlords: what you get, and what you don't

In all five councils, your first property can be fully funded and each one after that needs a 50% contribution. Your tenant's income is what counts, so the household living there has to qualify. In Hartlepool the home must also be rated D or E.

Every privately rented home must reach EPC C by 1 October 2030, with required spending capped at £10,000 per property. The grant fully funds one home at most and part-funds the rest, so most of a portfolio needs a plan you pay for, which is where the order of the work, and what each step actually scores, makes the difference.