Tag Archives: Energy Performance

21Jan 2013

The Green Deal: How Will It Affect Rental Properties?

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By Craig Smith

From 28th January 2013 the Green Deal will be coming into force as part of the Energy Act 2011. The idea is that households can have a grant from the Government to install more energy efficient improvements which will then be paid back as part of their utility bills.

Homeowners

The basic way that the deal will work is for a homeowner to have their property surveyed to see if they could benefit from the grant. The grant would only be given if the savings that could be made would outweigh the installation costs as there would be no point otherwise! Some of the more well known improvements include loft insulation or installing a more energy efficient boiler.

Once the improvements have been carried out, the homeowner would pay back the grant over a set period of time as part of their energy bills but this would not come to any more than their regular bill payments. This way, in theory, they start to enjoy the savings almost straight away.

Clearly, the longer you live at the house the more savings you should make. Even if you did need to sell up or move quicker than expected, the grant repayments would stay with the property itself rather than the owner so the new occupier would pick up the bill but also enjoy the savings!

Landlords and Tenants

Having this done in your own home looks like a great way to save money, particularly if you don’t plan on moving any time soon. But when it comes to rental properties, it gets a little more complicated.

A tenant could still save money and help the environment which can only be a good thing. However, tenants may not be so keen to take part in the scheme if they aren’t planning on staying put for very long. A lot of tenants, for example, only rent because they need to move around for work and may need to move on again in a few months time. Don’t forget that in the majority of lets it is the tenant who pays for the utilities, thus covering the extra bill and saving very little in the short term.

Good or Bad News for Letting?

Some tenants may see this as them paying for improvements to someone else’s property. And whilst they may enjoy some savings when they are living there, they wont gain anything when they vacate.

However, what sounds like a disadvantage for some Landlords could be beneficial to others, depending on the tenants in the property. Longer term tenants may want to benefit from the savings and could also improve the Landlords property at the same time. Perhaps a longer term tenancy agreement could be agreed for some tenants who would be willing to take up the grant? This would ensure that the tenant benefits from the potential savings and also gives both the Landlord and the tenant security of having the home let for a longer period.

Stricter Rules in the Coming Years

This deal comes in at just the right time as from April 2018, it looks set that no property with an EPC rating of a band E or lower could be legally let. (The aim is to not just save money but to reduce the impact on the environment from energy usage.) This could be bad news for Landlords of the more rural or older properties. We don’t yet know if the sales of such properties will be affected but with energy usage becoming bigger and bigger news, it does look as though it will have some impact. Would you want to buy a property knowing it would cost a fortune to run or not be able to let it out?

19Jul 2012

Rental Property Advertising: Energy Performance Certificates to be Shown with Particulars

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By Craig Smith

Just over a year ago I wrote about some changes that were planned with regards to including Energy Performance Certificates as part of the details shown to prospective tenants. Well the changes are now in place and, despite quite a lot of confusion, we finally have the answers to some of the questions that have been asked repeatedly over the last couple of weeks!

New Style EPC’s Now Available.

There is now a new style Energy Performance Certificate which still shows the same details as the ‘old’ ones but just in a different format, a bit like a newer model of a car! Some experts have been worried that any older format certificates would need to be replaced by the newer ones each time a property is re-let, even if the certificate has not yet expired. We can now confirm that this is not the case and that older format certificates are still valid, provided they are not out of date.

Should EPC’s be Available when Marketing?

The certificates should be included with printed details if they are being given to a prospective tenant and indeed available at viewings. They should also be provided to a tenant when they move in to a property whether they request one or not. The other change is that the first page of the document should be visible on any electronic advertising such as websites.

However, they do not need to be provided in window displays (imagine the amount of extra windows agents would need just to show them!) or in printed advertisements, for example newspaper adverts.

Should a New EPC be Obtained for Every Letting?

The short answer to this is no! An EPC that has been carried out for the purpose of letting a property is valid for 10 years and the only time it needs to be renewed before this is if any changes have been made to the property that might affect the rating. For example, having new double glazed windows installed or insulation put in.

Further Advice: Saving Energy in the Home

The certificate gives an estimated amount of how much it would cost to run the home over 1 year, based on assumptions of how long the heating will be turned on etc. This won’t be an exact amount that the occupier could expect to pay but does give some idea of how much they would be looking to pay at the property.

Just this Saturday at a viewing, a gentleman asked to look at the EPC as he wanted to compare the energy rating to his current property. He was going to look at the pro’s and con’s of paying extra rent for a new property compared with how the energy bills would stack up. I have to say, I can still count on one hand how many people have actually asked to look at the certificate in the last 5 years!

 

13Apr 2011

Lettings Update: Change in EPC Rules to be Implemented

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By Craig Smith

From 1st 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 1st 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!