The answers, kept current
Almost every page you'll find about UK air conditioning was right when it was written. The rules changed twice in fourteen months, and most of them didn't. These say what changed, when, and where we got it from.
Guides
Start here
Three to begin with, covering the questions that decide whether this is worth doing: whether you're allowed, what it costs to run, and whether anyone will help pay for it.
Rules and permissions
9 minDo you need planning permission for air conditioning?
Usually not. The one-metre boundary rule was scrapped in 2025 and the size limit more than doubled — but a stricter noise calculation replaced them, and it's now the only route.
Costs
8 minWhat air conditioning actually costs to run
About 25p an hour in cooling. The more useful number is the heating one — roughly a quarter of what a plug-in electric heater costs for the same warmth.
Costs
6 minThe £2,500 air conditioning grant, and who actually gets it
£2,500, not £7,500 — and if you have a working gas boiler you almost certainly don't qualify. Who does, and what changed in April 2026.
Why we bother writing these
Partly self-interest — people who understand the product buy a better version of it. But mostly because the alternative is what's already out there.
Two of the three guides on this page exist to correct something that’s widely published and wrong. The one-metre boundary rule hasn’t applied since May 2025 and is still quoted everywhere. The noise standard changed in May 2026, got materially stricter, and became the only route to installing without planning permission — and almost nothing says so.
Neither of those is anyone’s fault, exactly. They’re pages that were accurate when published and were never revisited. But between them they mean a homeowner doing sensible research arrives at a survey with two wrong beliefs, one of which makes them think the job is easier than it is and one of which makes them think it’s harder.
So every guide here carries the date it was last checked, the primary sources it was written from, and a plain note where we haven’t had it independently verified. If we’ve got something wrong we’d rather hear about it than rank for it.
Last checked across all guides: .
Or skip to the number
Seven questions about the room gets you a price band, without reading anything.
Buy a system outright and the survey is included in the price. Book one on its own and it's £95, refunded in full against the order.