Government to relax timing of boiler ban, Gove reveals

Housing secretary Michael Gove warns there may be a "backlash" if the Government doesn't "ease off" on its gas boiler policies.

boiler boilers ban

Homeowners and landlords must be given more time to get rid of gas boiler units, housing secretary Michael Gove has revealed.

He warned against “creating a backlash” by pushing too hard towards a roll out of alternative heating systems, such as heat pumps.

Michael Gove
Michael Gove, Housing Secretary

Gove says the Government should “ease off”, and give property owners longer to switch away from gas heating.

The target is for no gas boilers to be installed in new homes by 2025, and for the phasing out of boilers altogether to begin in 2033.

Propertymark has urged ministers to provide funding to help owners install new systems.

Mitigating the impact

“It is certainly the case that phasing out gas boilers and at the moment moving towards heat pumps does impose costs,” Gove said, and that he was “looking at how we can mitigate the impact on individuals”.

He told Times Radio: “There are proposals to decarbonise our existing housing stock, which I think are the right direction to go.

“But the costs which some of those changes may impose on homeowners, and indeed landlords, I think at this point in time we do need to be careful about.”

Relaxing the pace

Earlier this week, Gove said that the Government should “relax the pace” landlords are being forced to comply with EPC rules.

He said ministers are “asking too much too quickly” of landlords, after setting a deadline of 2028 for new EPC regulations on existing lettings.

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