Insulating rented homes and apartments in Ireland

The essentials

Establish responsibility before booking work

Tenants should report defects to the landlord or housing provider and request a written plan. Obtain the landlord’s written consent before arranging alterations.
Landlords can apply for eligible SEAI insulation support. Higher attic and cavity grants may apply to properties in active HAP or RAS arrangements.
Apartment owners must establish ownership, lease conditions and any owners’ management company consent before work on shared roofs, walls or services.
An apartment grant category does not make every apartment suitable. The survey must identify where heat escapes and how ventilation and fire safety will be protected.

If you rent: report the problem and ask for a plan

Tell the landlord or their letting agent which rooms are cold, where damp or mould appears, and whether a fan, vent, heater or window is defective. Put it in writing with dated photographs and ask for an inspection and repair timetable. A cold room can have several causes; an insulation quote alone will not establish whether a leak or broken ventilation needs attention first.

For private tenancies, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) explains that rented homes must meet minimum standards, including sound structure without damp, adequate heating and ventilation. These duties are separate from whether the owner gets a grant. If the landlord does not act after a reasonable opportunity to investigate and repair, request a local authority inspection and consider the RTB dispute service. The local authority enforces minimum standards. Keep your reports and replies as evidence.

Agree access for surveys and work with the landlord. Your right to peaceful occupation still matters. Before a disruptive upgrade, request dates, working hours, the rooms affected and arrangements for heating, washing and safe access during the job. Discuss any need to stay elsewhere before work is booked; do not assume the contractor’s price covers it.

Do not arrange to add insulation to the inside face of walls, drill the outside walls or put insulation in the attic on your own initiative. Under section 16 of the Residential Tenancies Act, alterations need the landlord’s written consent. Do not assume you can deduct an upgrade bill from rent. If a necessary repair remains unresolved, get advice on the repair and dispute route before spending money yourself.

If you are the landlord: choose the support and own the project

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) offers individual insulation grants for eligible rental properties. Insulation normally requires the home to have been built and occupied before 2011. Private and commercial landlords have support routes, but their application requirements differ: companies and owners’ management companies need the relevant authorisation and State-aid declarations before applying. State aid means public support subject to rules for businesses; ask SEAI which declaration applies to your ownership arrangement.

Properties in an active Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancy or Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) arrangement may qualify for higher attic and cavity-wall insulation grants. These are supports for the owner’s eligible works, not money the tenant applies for personally. Ask SEAI what evidence it needs and confirm the correct rate before relying on it. A tenant’s welfare payment alone does not establish the landlord’s grant entitlement.

Cavity insulation fills a suitable gap between the inner and outer wall layers. Internal insulation lines the room side of a wall; external insulation covers its outside beneath a new finish. The installer must survey the construction before recommending a method.

Use our grant guide for the sourced amounts, then confirm eligibility with SEAI. Previous funding, unsuitable construction or incomplete work can affect support. A private landlord considering several upgrades can also ask a registered One Stop Shop, a provider that manages the upgrade, about a suitable scheme. The route comparison explains individual and whole-home support. Commercial landlords should confirm their available route directly with SEAI rather than assume every private-landlord option applies.

Get surveyed quotes from SEAI-registered contractors for the relevant work. For a self-managed grant, apply and accept the offer before starting work or buying materials. Put the full price, approved support and payment dates in writing; a later grant payment does not pay an earlier deposit. Agree the tenant’s access and disruption arrangements alongside the contract.

If you own an apartment: check the lease and the shared parts

An owners’ management company (OMC) manages common property for the owners in a development. Its appointed managing agent handles day-to-day instructions; it is not the same as your landlord or an insulation installer. Ask the agent or OMC for the approval process before commissioning changes.

The Multi-Unit Developments Act includes external walls, roofs and structural walls in its definition of common areas. Your apartment’s ownership documents, often called the head lease, set out the parts you own and your obligations. Ask your solicitor to explain them if responsibility is unclear. Owning the room does not establish that you may drill, cover or alter the wall outside it.

Send the OMC a description of the proposed work and request written confirmation of the required consent, survey information and conditions. Ask who can authorise it, whether owners must vote, who arranges access and who pays. A contractor’s assurance or a grant offer does not settle those questions. Planning permission and building requirements are separate checks for the project’s professional adviser.

For a rented apartment, both relationships matter: the tenant deals with the landlord, and the landlord takes the ownership and common-area questions to the OMC. A letting agent’s permission alone may not authorise a change to the block.

Survey the actual heat-loss surfaces

A wall facing outdoors, a roof above the top floor and a ceiling below another heated home are different situations. Ask the surveyor to identify each surface before recommending insulation.

Top-floor roof: SEAI’s attic support requires a roof through which the apartment loses heat to the outside. A separate apartment directly above rules out that attic grant. Being on the top floor still does not establish ownership or consent to work on the roof.
External walls: ask whether the construction is suitable for cavity fill, internal lining or a coordinated external treatment. SEAI’s individual wall grant requires a whole-surface solution for the home’s outside walls; treating one cold bedroom is not automatically an eligible job. Have SEAI and the designer confirm how the proposed apartment scope meets the rules.
Internal lining and shared services: ask how the design deals with window edges, floors and adjoining walls, where heat can bypass the insulation. Confirm the treatment of sockets, pipes, vents and fire protection. Do not treat an inside-only job as automatically independent of the building’s shared systems.

For work affecting several apartments, the OMC should appoint a suitably qualified building professional to survey and coordinate the design. That person should identify permissions, fire-safety implications, ventilation, access, affected homes and any necessary repairs. Ask SEAI about the funding application structure before assuming one grant per resident or one grant for the entire block.

The insulation cost hub explains the limits of apartment medians. A historical apartment figure cannot price a block-wide project, scaffold or common repairs. Traditional solid-wall buildings need the separate approach in our older homes guide; an apartment conversion does not change that construction.

Agree a complete job in an occupied home

Before accepting the quote, ask the owner, OMC where relevant, designer and installer to settle these practical points:

Repairs first: identify leaks, damp and defects, who fixes them and whether that cost is included. Painting over mould does not establish that its cause has been removed.
Ventilation: record the fresh-air provision and extraction from wet rooms, such as kitchens and bathrooms, that the installer will leave working. Never seal a required vent to make a room feel warmer. See our ventilation and condensation guide.
Access and protection: agree who moves furniture, protects belongings, holds keys by agreement, and keeps communal escape routes clear. Include scaffold and access to neighbouring or shared areas where needed.
Finishing and disruption: include moving fittings, plastering, decoration, cleaning and waste removal. Set dates for noisy work and any loss of room use or services, with a named contact if the programme changes.
Handover: keep consent, design and product records, invoices, warranties and grant forms. Arrange any required final Building Energy Rating (BER), the home’s energy certificate, and give occupants instructions for the ventilation and heating controls.

After the work, report defects promptly and ask the installer to explain the completed scope. The landlord or apartment owner should retain the records for future maintenance and assessments; the occupant needs usable instructions, not just a certificate held elsewhere.

Your next step

Tenant: send a written repair or comfort request to the landlord or housing provider. Ask for a response and survey plan before arranging alterations yourself.

Landlord: establish the home’s age, previous support and any active HAP/RAS arrangement, then request a surveyed scope and confirm the grant route before work starts.

Apartment owner or OMC: obtain the ownership and consent position, appoint the right building professional for the scope and ask SEAI how to apply. Use Check grant eligibility as an initial screen; confirm the apartment’s actual suitability and permissions separately.

Common questions

Can a tenant apply for free Warmer Homes upgrades?

The Warmer Homes Scheme requires the applicant to own and live in the home. It does not fund a landlord’s rented property on that basis. Ask your landlord or housing provider about upgrades and other SEAI routes. An owner-occupied apartment may qualify, subject to the scheme and consent rules in our Warmer Homes guide.

Does receiving HAP mean my landlord must insulate the home?

HAP means Housing Assistance Payment. An active HAP tenancy may allow the owner to receive higher eligible attic and cavity insulation grants, but a grant offer is not an instruction to install a particular measure. Separately, rental minimum standards still apply. Report damp, inadequate heating or ventilation to the landlord and follow the repair route in this guide.

Can I insulate a ceiling with another apartment above it?

SEAI’s attic grant excludes an apartment with a separate apartment directly above it. A ceiling between two homes is different from a roof losing heat outdoors. Ask a building professional to identify the actual heat-loss surfaces; do not disturb a shared floor or ceiling without checking ownership, consent and fire safety.

What if my home is rented from the council or a housing association?

Report defects and ask about planned energy upgrades through your housing provider’s repairs service. Keep the reference number and correspondence. The private-tenancy RTB route described here does not apply to council tenancies; approved housing body tenants can use the RTB. Ask the provider for its complaints process if repairs remain unresolved.

Work out your own numbers

Grant total: add up what each SEAI route pays for your upgrades.
Which grant route: five questions to find where to apply first.

Sources and review

Reviewed by Rudy Greene on 31 October 2026. Sources were last checked on 30 October 2026. The review checks published guidance; ask a contractor to survey and design the work for your home.