Who rents in the district
At the 2021 Census, 61.7% of the district's households owned their home outright or with a mortgage. Of the rest, 23% of all households rented privately and 14.6% rented from a social landlord, a figure that includes the 5.6% of all households who recorded the council or a local authority as their landlord (ONS Census 2021). The Census counted 209,867 in all.
Put simply, nearly a quarter of households in the district rent from a private landlord, and for every one of them the roof belongs to somebody else. The Census figures do not show which streets those homes are on, what condition their roofs are in, or how many already have panels, and this guide does not guess.
Energy performance is the other half of the picture. Only 37.3% of Bradford homes with an EPC reach band C or above, against 53.3% across England, and for terraced houses the figure is 21.2% (ONS). The older homes and EPC guide explains why the district's housing scores as it does.
| Tenure | Share of households | Who decides about roof panels | Where to ask first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owned outright or with a mortgage | 61.7% | The owner, within the planning rules | The council's grant scheme if on a low income; otherwise installers' quotes |
| Rented privately | 23% | The landlord | The landlord, in writing |
| Rented from the council or a local authority | 5.6% | The social landlord | The landlord's repairs or energy team |
| Other social renting | 9.0% | The housing association | The landlord's repairs or energy team |
The minimum energy rules for private lets
Private landlords in England and Wales work to a minimum energy efficiency standard. It covers assured, regulated and domestic agricultural tenancies where the property is legally required to have an EPC. A landlord cannot let, or continue to let, such a property with an EPC below band E unless a valid exemption is registered. There is a cost cap: GOV.UK says landlords are not currently required to spend more than £3,500, including VAT, and that if band E cannot be reached within that sum, the landlord should make every improvement possible up to it and then register an exemption. Where outside funding, such as a council grant, covers the full cost of reaching band E, the cap does not apply (GOV.UK). Exemptions are recorded on a register that the GOV.UK guidance links to, so a tenant can check whether one has been registered for the home they rent.
A higher bar is on the way. The Warm Homes Plan says landlords will need to bring their properties up to EPC band C, across two measures, by October 2030 unless a valid exemption applies (Warm Homes Plan). The GOV.UK guidance, last updated in May 2026, says the government is exploring the policy design following the 2026 consultation and will say more in due course. So band E is the rule a Bradford landlord must meet now, and band C is the stated direction, with the detail still to come.
Where do panels fit? Solar photovoltaic panels appear among the improvements in GOV.UK's worked examples, but whether they move a particular home's band depends on the house, and the EPC itself lists the measures suggested for it. A tenant who wants panels has a better case if the EPC report already suggests them.
Help for privately rented homes
Better Homes Bradford is a scheme run in partnership with Bradford Council and paid for with government funding. After a survey, it offers attic room insulation, or solar PV with battery storage, to privately-owned and privately-rented households in qualifying areas of the district. For eligible households the work comes at no cost; private landlords can have it done at no charge on one property and pay a contribution towards later ones (Bradford Council). The council's page does not list the qualifying areas or set out any income or EPC test, so the only way to know whether an address qualifies is to check with the scheme. As the work is to the landlord's building, a tenant should expect the landlord to need to agree.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant, which councils in England run, has national tests. GOV.UK says the home must be in England and privately owned, either by the occupier or by a landlord, with an EPC of D, E, F or G, and that household income must usually be £36,000 a year or less, unless the household is in a qualifying postcode area or someone receives certain benefits. The council arranges a survey and pays for the work it agrees, which can include solar panels, though GOV.UK adds that a landlord may need to pay for some of the improvements (GOV.UK).
Outside those low-income routes there is no grant for solar. The Warm Homes Plan describes the offer for homeowners as grant support for clean heating, or low-cost finance for a solar or battery installation (Warm Homes Plan). The help with paying guide sets out each route, and what solar costs in the district gives the prices a landlord would be weighing.
Social tenants are in a different position. The grant tests above require a privately owned home, and the Warm Homes Plan says new minimum standards are coming for social landlords as well as private ones. If you rent from the council or a housing association, ask the landlord's repairs or energy team what is planned for your home.
Plug-in kits for tenants
For many tenants, the realistic option is one they can carry out of the door. Plug-in kits with a maximum rated AC output of no more than 800 W, connected through a standard plug and socket, can be used in Great Britain from 27 August 2026 under SI 2026/848 (legislation.gov.uk). The Energy Saving Trust says renters need permission from their landlord before installing one, that a home can have only one such device, that it must be registered before use, and that you can take it with you when you move (Energy Saving Trust).
Before buying, read the tenancy agreement for anything about fixing items to walls, balconies or the outside of the building, and ask the landlord to confirm in writing where the kit may go. The Trust also suggests checking with your insurer whether the policy needs changing. A frame that stands in the yard or garden is often easier to agree than one bolted to the house, because nothing is drilled into the landlord's stonework.
Treated as 0.8 kW on a south-facing frame at 35° in the city centre, a kit would make about 747 kWh a year, around 30% of Ofgem's typical yearly use, by our arithmetic from PVGIS. Most suppliers will not pay for what a kit exports without an MCS certificate, as the export guide explains. The plug-in solar guide covers the planning limits, including the ban on timber balconies and walls.
How to ask a landlord
A vague request is easy to turn down. Put it in writing and be specific about:
- what you are proposing: a roof system fitted by an installer certified by MCS, or a plug-in kit you would own and take with you;
- who pays, and who owns the equipment afterwards;
- who looks after it, insures it and deals with faults;
- what happens at the end of the tenancy;
- whose name goes on the MCS certificate and on any export tariff;
- whether the work could help the property's EPC band, given the rules above.
If the landlord owns more than one home in the district, Better Homes Bradford may be worth raising. For privately-rented homes in its qualifying areas, Bradford Council's page says the first property can be done at no charge and later ones with a contribution, subject to the scheme's survey and its own eligibility checks (Bradford Council).
For a landlord, a roof system is a change to the building like any other. A listed building, and that includes every property in Saltaire's Article 4 area, will almost certainly need consent first, as the planning guide explains, and Northern Powergrid's application forms ask for the owner's details, which the network guide covers. Whoever ends up paying, use the installer checklist before anyone signs.
Keep a copy of the request and of the reply. If the answer to a roof system is no, ask whether a plug-in kit on a frame in the yard would be acceptable instead: it involves no change to the building, and it leaves with you when the tenancy ends.