A pensioner who borrowed hundreds of pounds to pay for central heating to be installed in his home is furious after his landlords announced an £18 million programme to upgrade the homes of his neighbours.

Brian Pyrah, 65, of Bradford Moor, says he resorted to sleeping on his sofa to keep warm before his family helped raise £1,700 to pay to install heating in 2003.

He has been a Brunel Housing tenant for 33 years and when he did not qualify for a Government Warm Front grant, he says the housing association refused to help him pay for the work which he thought would have been paid for under the terms of his tenancy agreement.

But now Brunel is carrying out a project to improve its housing stock, including the central heating.

Mr Pyrah said: "My tenancy agreement says I might be eligible for compensation for household improvements, but they said I would only get compensation if I move homes.

"I don't want to do that so it's a wasted investment.

"If I stay here for the rest of my life, Brunel keeps the property and someone else will benefit from the work without any cost to the housing association.

"In the winter before I got the heating, I had to sleep on the settee downstairs with the doors closed to keep the heat in."

To date this year, Brunel has installed 120 heating systems in Bradford properties. And the housing association says it was just bad luck that Mr Pyrah installed his heating before Brunel announced their improvement plan.

Nadhia Hussain, manager for Brunel Housing, said: "Mr Pyrah made his inquiry prior to the association becoming part of the Yorkshire Housing Group. As part of the merger, £18 million is now being invested over three years to improve all our housing stock.

"On termination of a tenancy, tenants have a right to request compensation for any works they have undertaken, providing the landlord's permission was granted.

"Compensation would be based on the value of the improvement at the time of the request."

Councillor Ahmed (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor) said: "This is a prime example of bureaucracy gone mad. Mr Pyrah is being penalised on a technicality even though he has been a loyal and model tenant for many years. I cannot see any reason why he is not being reimbursed."