A condensing gas boiler is one the of the most cost effective and efficient forms of heating a home. Once fitted, a home owner can reap the benefit of cheaper gas bills year on year out.

Living in a cold home can also affect your health and can relate to pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma.

Free, and heavily subsidised replacement boilers are available via ECO, a Government boiler Scheme which has been set up to help low-income households access home efficiency improvements to reduce the cost of heating their homes, and to reduce their carbon footprints.

If you meet the benefits related criteria, and your current boiler is at least 5 years old (not condensing), you could qualify. It's as simple as that.

Boiler Grants are non-repayable, this means you do not have to pay any money back at any time. There are no complicated terms and conditions. If you qualify for a grant, you can have a new boiler installed. The amount of funding you get is determined by the efficiency of your home, so an energy assessment will be carried out free of charge.

You can be in receipt of any of the six following benefits to qualify for a free boiler grant:

• - Universal Credit
• - Working Tax Credits (where overall household income is less than £16.010 per year)
• - Child Tax Credits (where overall household income is less than £16.010 per year)
• - Pension Credit
• - Income related ESA
• - Income Related JSA

With energy bills more expensive than ever, your boiler needs to be heating your home for the lowest possible cost and your old boiler could be losing you on average around £305 a year.

Boilers installed in the UK are required to be condensing boilers. These are far more efficient than traditional boilers as they release gas at just 55 degrees Celsius (rather than 180 degrees), therefore requiring less energy to generate the same amount of heat.

Less energy means lower bills!

Under the Governments ECO Flex Scheme, householders may still qualify for a Boiler Grant or a Storage Heater Grant even if they don’t receive State Benefits or Tax Credits. The ECO Flex Grants Scheme helps those householders who are not in receipt of means tested benefits but who are living on a low income and are vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home.

To qualify for the central heating grants for landlords scheme, the new central heating system to be installed must include a central heating boiler connected to radiators which heat the home.

Central Heating Grants for Landlords Qualifying Criteria requires that the new central heating system is installed in domestic premises which do not currently and has never had a central heating system fitted before.

There are two ways in which your tenant will qualify for the Central Heating Grants for Landlords scheme.

Either they receive one of the qualifying State Benefits, Tax Credits or Other Allowances OR they qualify under ECO Flex Rules.