Heat Pump Checklist for Scottish Homes

An air source heat pump takes heat from the outside air and uses it for heating and hot water. It is sized to the house after a survey. The visit looks at how the building holds heat, the radiators or underfloor heating, a place for the outdoor unit, space for a hot water cylinder, and the electrical supply. Home Energy Scotland publishes the current funding rules. The quote follows the survey of that home.

Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan · correct as of 3 October 2026

A heat pump delivers heat steadily. A house that loses heat quickly makes the unit work harder. The survey looks at the loft, cavity walls where the house has them, draughts at doors, windows, and floors, and the condition of the glazing. Stone houses, common in Edinburgh and the Lothians, can still use a heat pump. The design uses a heat loss calculation for the rooms, the construction, and the windows. That calculation is part of the quote.

Insulation improvements, where the house needs them, can sit beside the heat pump on the same enquiry. Heat pumps is the installation page. Funding for energy efficiency measures is on the Home Energy Scotland scheme page, linked from the grants guide.

A heat pump heats water to a lower temperature than a gas boiler. Some existing radiators are too small to heat the room at that temperature. The design may replace those radiators with larger ones, or use underfloor heating where the house already has it. The quote includes that emitter work when it is part of the job.

Most heat pump systems use a hot water cylinder. A home with a combi boiler and no cylinder needs a cupboard, loft, or utility space for one. The survey records that space and the cylinder size for the household.

You can usually fit one air source heat pump on a house, a building that contains flats, or a flat, or in the grounds, without a planning application. You need to apply when it sticks out by more than 1 metre. In a conservation area it sits at ground floor on the back of the building. In the grounds it stays behind the front wall and behind a side wall that faces a road, and within 3 metres high. You need to apply in a World Heritage Site or in the grounds of a listed building. The unit is for heating or hot water at home, and it meets MCS 020 planning standards or an equivalent.

Scottish Government Circular 1/2024 (28 May 2024) · correct as of 3 October 2026

The same national rules cover flats. Solar on a flat follows the solar rules, and a heat pump follows the heat pump rules. In a conservation area, or in the grounds of a listed building, other changes to the outside of a flat need a planning application.

Circular 1/2024, flats · correct as of 3 October 2026

The survey also looks for airflow, a solid base, a sensible pipe run into the house, access for servicing, and the unit's position relative to boundaries and neighbouring windows. The noise of the chosen unit is part of that note. On a listed Edinburgh building, or in a conservation area, read solar on listed Edinburgh homes and the council guidance.

Edinburgh listed building and conservation area guidance · correct as of 3 October 2026

The survey checks the consumer unit and the supply. If the connection needs a notification to the distribution network operator, that step is named in the quote. You see it before any work is agreed.

Running costs depend on the house, the design, and the electricity tariff. This page describes the survey. It leaves a figure for the property to the quote, with the assumptions written down. Solar panels can be priced on the same visit when you ask for that scope.

Home Energy Scotland is the free advice service funded by the Scottish Government. The scheme page lists the measures and the current grant and loan rules. Read that page for the amounts. Where the funding pays for a renewable system, check that the installer and the product are MCS certified. Micro-hydro is the published exception. That check belongs to the application.

Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan · correct as of 3 October 2026

A heat pump on the scheme page has to run all of the heating and hot water. You can apply for a heat pump before an EPC is in place. An EPC is required for energy efficiency improvements, and the measure has to be recommended on the certificate. The longer account of the scheme, including the amounts, is on the grants guide and heat pump funding in Scotland.

Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan · correct as of 3 October 2026

0% VAT on a heat pump install at your home until 31 March 2027. The heat pump is fixed in place and takes heat from the outside air for your heating, your hot water, or both. From 1 April 2027 the rate is 5%.

VAT Notice 708/6 · correct as of 3 October 2026

A heat pump is set to run steadily. The handover covers the controls and the servicing information for the system that was installed. Ask for that handover in writing.

Pentland Renewables surveys homes in Edinburgh and the Lothians from the workshop at Unit 2b Eastfield Industrial Estate, Penicuik, EH26 8HA. Area notes are on Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, West Lothian, and Penicuik. Send the postcode and the work you want priced through the quote form.