Heat pumps for landlords in Hull

Hull is a city of terraces

Hull has 27,593 privately rented households out of 115,475, which is 23.9% (2021 Census). Owner-occupiers are 48.3% and social tenants 27.0%, one of the larger social shares among the cities on this site.

The housing mix is the striking part. Terraced homes are 46.7% of households, about 53,900, which is nearly half the city. Semi-detached homes are 29.4% (about 33,950), purpose-built flats 11.4% (about 13,200), detached homes 8.4% and converted houses 2.3%. Compare Nottingham, where terraces are 27.4%, or Doncaster at 21.1%. Only 11.4% of Hull households live in purpose-built flats.

For a Hull landlord that means the typical rental is a terrace, often with a small rear yard. A terrace is not detached, so the England planning rules allow one heat pump unit. It must meet the 37.0 dB(A) noise limit and cannot go on a pitched roof. The usual problem is not permission but position: a yard shared by a neighbour’s back window.

These percentages cover all households, not only rented ones, so check your own property.

Gas, very little electric and no oil

Mains gas heats 80.1% of homes, about 92,500 households. Electric-only heating is 7.1%, about 8,200. District heating is 0.3%, no central heating 1.8% and oil 0.0%.

So a Hull heat pump is almost always a gas swap, and the £9,000 off-gas rate of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which needs oil or LPG with no mains gas connection, will almost never apply. Plan on £7,500.

Worked example (modelled, not a real project)

Inputs: a two-bedroom terrace using 10,000kWh of heat a year (an assumption; the site’s fact sheet uses 12,000kWh for a three-bedroom semi), a gas boiler at 90% efficiency, a heat pump at SCOP 3.0 or 3.5, and Ofgem cap unit rates for 1 October to 31 December 2026 (gas 7.97p, electricity 26.32p per kWh). Standing charges are left out.

Heating	Fuel needed	Fuel cost a year
Gas boiler, 90%	11,111kWh gas	about £886
Heat pump, SCOP 3.0	3,333kWh electricity	about £877
Heat pump, SCOP 3.5	2,857kWh electricity	about £752

At SCOP 3.0 the running cost is level with gas. At 3.5 the tenant saves about £130 a year. You do not see that saving unless you pay the bills.

The capital side matters more in Hull than in many cities. The Energy Saving Trust gives around £12,000 for a typical air source heat pump before grant, so about £4,500 after the £7,500 grant, before radiators, a cylinder or insulation. On a lower-value terrace that is a large share of the property’s worth, and it may buy more EPC improvement as insulation. Use the landlord heat pump calculator with your own figures.

Article 4 areas in Hull

Hull has two kinds of Article 4 direction that matter to landlords.

Small HMOs. In the areas covered, changing a house to a small HMO for 3 to 6 sharers needs planning permission. The first direction, dated 9 October 2013, covers the Avenues, Pearson Park, Newland, Newland Park, Inglemire and Beverley Road. A second direction took effect on 8 August 2019 and was confirmed by the council on 16 January 2020, adding Beverley Road (south) and Spring Bank, Newington and St Andrews, and the Holderness Road corridor west of Maybury Road.

The Avenues and Pearson Park. A separate direction controls changes to the front of houses in the Avenues and Pearson Park area: windows and bays, front doors, porches, bargeboards, gutters and fascias, chimneys, roofing materials, and solar panels on a roof slope facing the road. It does not list heat pumps by name, so ask the council about any unit you would place on a front elevation.

Hull City Council lists 27 conservation areas, the newest being Wincolmlee, designated on 26 February 2026. The permitted development rights for heat pumps carry extra limits in a conservation area, and a listed building needs consent.

HMO licensing

Hull City Council treats a property let to 3 or more unrelated people as an HMO, and a mandatory licence is needed where 5 or more people forming 2 or more households share a bathroom or kitchen. The council’s pages do not describe a selective or additional licensing scheme. If your property is licensed, ask the council whether a heating change affects the licence conditions.

Hull’s heat network and carbon plan

Hull is one of the 28 councils in the government’s heat network zoning pilot. Phase 1 of the Hull District Heat Network, put to the council’s cabinet in May 2025, is a £42.6 million project with an energy centre on Trippett Street and pipes around the city centre. It will serve council properties, education buildings, development sites and businesses, with potential to supply the Great Thornton Street and Cambridge Street flats. Vital Energi is the contractor.

That is a city centre scheme. A landlord with a terrace in east or west Hull should decide on the merits of the house.

The council declared a climate emergency in March 2019. Its strategy is Carbon Neutral Hull, an environment and climate change strategy for 2020 to 2030, with the vision of Hull becoming a leading carbon neutral city by 2030. It is a council plan, not a landlord duty.

EPC C by 2030

Today the legal minimum is EPC E, with a cost cap of £3,500 including VAT. The government plans EPC C by 1 October 2030 with a cost cap of £10,000 per property, but the regulations are not yet laid. Where a property is valued below £100,000, the planned cap is the lower of £10,000 or 10% of its value, which may matter for some Hull terraces. Read EPC C 2030 and your heating choice and the cost cap and exemptions.

Grants for Hull landlords

• Boiler Upgrade Scheme: £7,500 for an air-to-water or ground source heat pump. Landlords are eligible. See the BUS page for landlords.
• Warm Homes: Local Grant: GOV.UK lists Hull with £3,402,806, and the council describes £3.4 million over 3 years, delivered with E.ON, for measures including insulation and air source heat pumps. National landlord terms include a declaration that rent will not rise because of the work. Read the Warm Homes Local Grant page.
• Warm Homes Loan Scheme: a lender loan, not a grant.

To apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant in Hull, the council lists four routes: the GOV.UK online form, the Hull Warm Homes Team by phone, email to warmhomesteam@hullcc.gov.uk, or a self-referral through the council’s myAccount portal. The council’s eligibility wording is addressed to the household living in the home, so expect the application to need your tenant’s details and cooperation as well as yours. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays one grant per property and excludes homes already given government heat pump funding, so decide which route fits before applying.

When a heat pump is the wrong answer

• A solid-wall terrace with thin loft insulation: fabric first.
• A terrace with no usable yard or a unit position under a neighbour’s window.
• A front-elevation position in the Avenues without checking the Article 4 rules.
• A gas-heated home where the heat pump would only reach SCOP 3.0 and tenants see no saving.

If a heat pump does suit the home, send an enquiry and relevant independent firms contact you, with no charge to you and no obligation.