Improving your home’s energy efficiency in 2027: subsidies and borrowing

If you want to improve the energy efficiency of a home you are considering buying in 2027, compare your plans with your budget. Look separately at what you can borrow and which subsidies may be available. They have different conditions and relevant dates. As of 1 October 2026, next year’s heat pump subsidy has not been confirmed.

Heat pump subsidy amounts are only confirmed for 2026. There is a draft for 2027, with a lower amount per kW of capacity. While it remains a draft, you cannot base your renovation budget on it.

The borrowing rules are clearer. Are you buying a home with energy label E, F or G using NHG, the Nationale Hypotheek Garantie or Dutch national mortgage guarantee scheme? From 1 January 2027, the starting point is to include at least €20,000 in your loan for energy-saving measures.

What heat pump subsidy can you get in 2027?

The ISDE subsidy is based on the heat pump’s capacity and energy class, rather than the price you pay for it. If the roof already has solar panels, a separate change affects what they save you. That is covered in the article on buying a house with solar panels.

The ministry sets these amounts each year based on the cost of a heat pump. The aim is for the subsidy to cover around 30% of the cost on average. The amount per kW makes up a larger share for a bigger unit, so that is where the difference from 2026 is greatest. Your installer’s quote gives the thermal output of your heat pump.

The 2027 amounts are only final once the regulation has been adopted. The 2026 regulation was published on 20 November 2025. Following the same timetable would put the 2027 regulation in November 2026.

A confirmed subsidy amount is not an award to you. The ISDE has an annual budget, which can run out. There is €500 million available for 2026, allocated in the order applications arrive. Once it is gone, you receive nothing, even if you meet every condition. The budget for 2027 was not known on 1 October 2026. A subsidy you have yet to apply for is therefore not a confirmed part of your renovation budget.

Check the construction year and permit application date

The ISDE does not cover every home. The property must have been built before 1 January 2019, or you must show that the building’s omgevingsvergunning, the planning and building permit, was applied for before 1 July 2018. That second route covers homes completed just after the first date. If the property meets neither date, it falls outside this subsidy. You receive nothing, including no partial payment.

If you are buying a home from 2018 or 2019, look up its construction year before allowing for the subsidy. If the first route does not apply, the permit application date is the only other route.

There are also requirements for the unit and its installation. The heat pump must be new. A second-hand unit does not qualify, and a building services installation firm must carry out the entire installation. You cannot install it yourself.

Installing in late 2026? This is the date that matters

The order is fixed: first have the heat pump installed, then apply to RVO for the subsidy within 24 months of installation. As the application comes afterwards, a heat pump installed in December 2026 may lead to an application in 2027.

Under the current rules and the 2027 draft, the subsidy amount depends on the installation date. Your application date does not determine the amount. The 2026 regulation applies to installations on or after 1 January 2026. The 2027 draft opens a category for installations on or after 1 January 2027 and leaves the 2026 category in place. Under that draft, an installation in December 2026 receives the 2026 amounts, even if you apply in the new year.

That only becomes certain once the regulation is adopted, as each year can set its own qualifying date. Did you buy your heat pump in 2024, accept a quote or commission the installation? The 2024 amounts applied if you could show that this happened before 1 January 2025.

NHG for labels E, F or G: €20,000 as the starting point

The €20,000 starting point does not apply to every home bought with NHG. It depends on the energy label: it applies to E, F or G from 1 January 2027.

It does not apply if you are buying an apartment right. That does not just mean a flat in a block. A ground-floor or upper-floor home in a divided building is also legally an apartment right, and you belong to a VvE, the Vereniging van Eigenaars or owners’ association. If the deed describes what you are buying as an apartment right, this rule does not apply to you.

Our article on energy labels when buying explains where to check this property’s label. The article on NHG explains what else the guarantee covers and what it costs.

A starting point is not an obligation. You do not have to borrow or spend the amount. Nor is there a deadline for reaching a particular energy label or improving by a certain number of labels. In practice, the amount is included in your mortgage adviser’s calculation by default. If you do not want it included, raise that yourself. NHG has a form for this: the Verklaring geen gebruik verduurzamingsbudget, a declaration that you will not use the energy improvement budget.

With an Energiebespaarbudget, an energy-saving budget within your mortgage, you do not have to specify the measures or their costs in advance. Your mortgage adviser can explain the other options and what each requires.

If you borrow the amount, it goes into a bouwdepot, a renovation account with your lender from which you pay the renovation bills. It has a time limit that varies by lender, averaging two years from the start of your loan. If you have not started by then, or you close the account earlier, the unused balance is paid towards your loan. Do not confuse this with the five per cent retention on completion of a new-build home. That gives you leverage with the contractor. A bouwdepot contains money you borrow yourself for the renovation.

Does the €20,000 fit within your mortgage?

Two things can reduce that amount, both based on the 2026 rules. The first is your own borrowing limit. If €20,000 does not fit within what you can borrow based on your income and the property value, the highest amount that does fit applies. The article on your maximum mortgage explains how that limit is calculated.

There is also a second €20,000 amount. In 2026, the lending standards allow €20,000 of additional borrowing for energy-saving measures in homes with energy labels E, F or G. For a property without a valid label, it is €10,000. That rule applies to everyone, including buyers without NHG, and is why the NHG starting point can fit into the calculation. These are two separate rules that happen to use the same amount.

Be clear about what that extra borrowing is for. Energy label E, F or G gives you nothing extra for the purchase itself. The extra borrowing is only for improvements, and it comes through the income assessment. If the property value limits your loan rather than your income, it does not help.

An Energiebespaarbudget also has a cap based on the property value. In 2026, financing can be up to 6% above the value of the home before the measures. If that 6% is less than €20,000, the cap applies.

Arrange the finance before booking the installer

For your mortgage, note the expected date of the binding offer. For the renovation, note the installation date. Each determines a different set of rules.

For NHG, the relevant date is when your lender issues the binding offer: the final mortgage proposal that only needs your signature. If that date is before 1 January 2027, the 2026 conditions apply. From then on, the 2027 conditions apply. This happens before you receive the keys, and you do not control the date. Your lender issues the offer, and your mortgage adviser knows how long that lender’s process takes. The full conditions for 2027 will be published on 1 November 2026, two months before they take effect.

For the subsidy, the current rules and the draft use the installation date. That is usually after you receive the keys. Agree with your installer when the unit will be fitted.

One condition sits between those two dates: you must own the property and live in it yourself. The point at which that must be the case is not specified. If you want the unit installed before completion, check with RVO first.

The renovation checklist explains the order for the rest of the work.

What to do now for this home.

1. Look up the construction year. For a home from around 2018, also find the date the omgevingsvergunning was applied for. That tells you whether the subsidy belongs in your budget at all.
2. Look up the energy label and check your koopovereenkomst, the purchase agreement, to see whether you are buying an apartment right.
3. Ask your mortgage adviser when the lender expects to issue the binding offer and how the energy improvement amount affects your maximum loan.
4. Leave the subsidy out of your budget until it has been awarded.

This article reflects the position on 1 October 2026.