What is an EPC?
An EPC will allow buyers, tenants, owners, and purchasers to view information on the energy efficiency and carbon emissions from their building so they can consider energy efficiency and fuel costs as part of their investment.
When do I need an EPC?
As a general rule, an EPC is to be available every time a home is put up for sale or rent. So, a newly constructed home will have one, a landlord will need one to show potential tenants, and a seller must have one to show to potential buyers.
Which buildings are exempted from EPC?
These include:
- Places of worship.
- Temporary buildings that will be used for less than 2 years
- Stand-alone buildings with total useful floor space of less than 50 square meters
Industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings that don’t use a lot of energy. - Some buildings that are due to be demolished.
- Holiday accommodation that’s rented out for less than 4 months a year or is let under a license to occupy.
- Listed buildings – you should get advice from your local authority conservation officer if the work would alter the building’s character.
- Residential buildings intended to be used less than 4 months a year.
Am I legally obliged to carry out the recommendations before I Sell Or Rent?
Recommendations on an EPC are the ways to improve energy efficiency and in turn to reduce the energy bills. You are not legally obliged to do the recommendations before you sell a property.
But it is advisable to read how it affects while renting a property. And as a landlord from 2020 April 1st, you are legally obliged to make sure that the property has a valid EPC that is “E” or above.
What if I have a question about my EPC?
If you don’t understand something on your certificate or you disagree with it, the first place to go is the energy assessor that carried out the EPC.
Their details should be available in the ‘About this document’ section. But if they can’t resolve your issue, you can contact their accreditation scheme, and the details will also be available in the same section of the certificate.
What is the term "Assumed" on the certificates with the home's energy performance features?
An EPC survey is a “non-invasive survey”.
This means our assessors have to follow some conventions and guidelines and have to depend on the evidence that they could only collect from the property.
We depend on the building regulations of the built year of the property and it is the software that implies the term “assumed” on the certificate (based on built year) if we cant find evidence from the property.
The term assumed states that the assessor was not able to find the evidence of insulation and the representation on the certificate is on the built year regulations.
My Loft Conversion has got insulation. But it has been mentioned as "uninsulated assumed"?
An EPC survey is a “non-invasive survey”.
For loft conversions, we need to have planning permission or completion documents to enter the date of conversion to the EPC.
In cases where such documents are not available , we try to find those documents from the local planning permission web sites. But in cases, we end up with no result.
In such cases as per the conventions, we have to date the loft conversion to the built year of the property and software uses the regulations of built year on the certificate.
That is why it comes up uninsulated assumed based on the built year of the property.
The term assumed states that the assessor was not able to find the evidence of insulation and the representation on the certificate is on the built year regulations.
My Estate Agent has measured the property and has come up with a higher floor area than on the EPC?
The floor area displayed on the EPC is only the habitable area. For example, unheated porch, garage, separated conservatory, etc won’t be in the EPC calculation area.
