Struggling with energy bills in a cold rented home? The Warm Home Discount can help with the bills right now. But it replaces none of the landlord's duty to
On this page
- Key facts
- What is the Warm Home Discount?
- Who is eligible?
- What the Warm Home Discount does NOT do
- Your landlord's duty to maintain heating
- If you cannot afford to heat your home because of a faulty system
- Cold homes and fuel poverty: other support available
- High energy bills caused by disrepair: recovering costs
- When should I contact Support for Tenants?
- Sources
- Related articles
Struggling with energy bills in a cold rented home? The Warm Home Discount can help with the bills right now. But it replaces none of the landlord's duty to keep the heating working. Here is how the discount works. Here is who gets it, and how it sits beside your tenant rights.
Key facts
- The 2024 to 2025 English Housing Survey found about 2% of homes in England had excess cold as a category 1 (most serious) hazard, rising to 3% of privately rented homes. English Housing Survey 2024-25, GOV.UK
- The same survey found about 9% of homes in England, around 2.3 million, had a category 1 (most serious) hazard under the HHSRS. In the private rented sector the figure was 10%. English Housing Survey 2024-25, GOV.UK
What is the Warm Home Discount?
The Warm Home Discount is a one-off yearly discount on electricity bills, for qualifying households. It goes straight to your supplier, who takes it off the electricity account. No gas bill gets cut. No rent gets cut. Electricity only.
The amount changes each year. In recent years it has sat around £150. Most qualifying households get it automatically. Others must apply.
Who is eligible?
There are two groups:
Core group, automatic: households on the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit qualify automatically. No application needed. The supplier applies it.
Broader group: lower-income households with high energy costs may qualify too. The government works it out automatically, from income data and energy costs. Applying is usually not needed. Qualifying means your supplier writes to you.
Think you should qualify, but nothing arrived? Ask your supplier to check.
What the Warm Home Discount does NOT do
The discount is short-term money help. It fixes no broken boiler. It deals with no damp or mould. It makes up for no months of poor heating in a badly kept home. And it replaces none of the landlord's legal duty to maintain the heating.
Some landlords answer high-bill complaints by pointing at the discount. It can help this winter. It shrinks the landlord's repair duties by not one degree.
Your landlord's duty to maintain heating
Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the landlord must keep the heating in repair and proper working order. Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, the home must stay fit to live in for the whole tenancy.
Heating that cannot do its job is the landlord's to fix. A broken boiler. Dead radiators. A system too weak to warm the home. A home that cannot be kept warm, even with plug-in heaters, may count as a Category 1 hazard under the HHSRS rating system.
If you cannot afford to heat your home because of a faulty system
Write to the landlord straight away. Say the heating is broken, or not up to the job, and that keeping warm is a struggle. Renting from a council or housing association? Awaab's Law makes them act within 24 hours on an emergency health risk. Weak heating in winter, for a vulnerable household, can be exactly that.
No action? Ask the council's environmental health team for an HHSRS inspection. They can serve an improvement notice forcing the heating fixed.
Cold homes and fuel poverty: other support available
Beside the Warm Home Discount sits:
- The Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners; the rules changed from 2024
- Cold Weather Payments in very cold spells, 7 days running below 0°C, for households on certain benefits
- The Energy Ombudsman, for billing rows with your supplier
- Citizens Advice, for energy debt and fuel poverty help
None of these stand in for a home that heats properly. That stays the landlord's job.
High energy bills caused by disrepair: recovering costs
Forced to run costly plug-in heaters because the landlord let the heating fail? The extra energy cost, against your normal usage, may come back in a disrepair claim. Keep the bills, and records of what the stand-in heating cost.
When should I contact Support for Tenants?
Is the landlord failing to keep your heating working? Call us on 0800 030 4669.
No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.
Sources
Related articles
- How long can a landlord leave you without heating?
- My home is too cold
- Help with rent arrears and housing benefit
We review every guide at least twice a year and update it when the law changes. If you spot something out of date or wrong, email help@supportfortenants.co.uk.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 15 June 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only, not a promise; every case is different.
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