Lettings Update: Change in EPC Rules to be Implemented

By Craig Smith

From 1^st October 2008, most residential properties need to have an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) in place before they are able to be marketed. However, this looks set to change from 1^st July 2011 due to new government rulings which have been announced to the energy assessors.

Current Regulations

At the moment, an EPC graph should be provided to prospective Tenants at a viewing and most certainly before they take tenure of a property. An EPC will last for 10 years for a rental property unless there are significant changes made to a property, such as the fitting of a new heating system, insulation being put in or new double glazed windows fitted.

Are EPC’s Useful?

If you asked us how many times a prospective Tenant has asked to view an EPC at a viewing since October 2008, you could probably count them on just one hand! This seems to be the general feedback from many Landlords and Agents. So that must mean that not many people even bother to look at them!

The certificates do good information on how to reduce the amount of energy used and improve efficiency. But again, if no-one looks at them what use are they?

The New Rulings

A government memo has been seen by one of the industry’s biggest publications which suggests that from July 2011, a full EPC report should be provided with ANY written details for a property. At the moment, the first page of the report is sufficient as this shows the performance graphs. So lets just get this straight, we should have to provide a complete document, usually around 7 pages, for most people to throw away. Why?!

Full EPC’s are available on request anyway (not that we ever seem to have requests for them) and if anybody does happen to be interested in the energy usage, it is usually only a quick glance at the graphs. Being perfectly honest, we cant remember having a single viewer say no to a property because of the results of the EPC!

Your Opinion?

We would like to hear your opinions on the subject, whether you are a Landlord or a Tenant. Maybe you have found an EPC to be useful when refurbishing a property or when choosing a property to move in to, please feel free to add a comment using the button below!