Did you know it is almost 10 years since the EPC became compulsory?
In that time millions and millions of homes and businesses have been surveyed and their energy performance been made public for all to see.
Did you also know that an EPC is only valid for 10 years? Bearing this in mind, over the next 18 months millions of buildings are going to require a ‘new’ EPC carried out. While this is great news for the industry because of the sudden influx of new work, it will most likely lead to an increase in costs for the EPC reports to be carried out, because assessors can pick and choose which jobs they wish to carry out.
Our advice is to get an EPC booked early to avoid having to pay more for the EPC in the next year or so – this is especially the case for commercial EPCs where a 10% hike in fees could lead to a substantial monetary cost.
It is also worth drawing attention to the change in legislation starting from the 1st April 2018. From this date there will be a requirement for any properties rented out in the private sector to have a minimum energy rating of E on the Energy Performance Certificate. The regulations will come into force for new lets and renewals of tenancies with effect from 1st April 2018 and for all existing tenancies on 1st April 2020. It will be unlawful to rent a property which breaches the requirement for a minimum E rating, unless there is an applicable exemption. If there is a breach in this legislation then the landlord could have to pay a £4000 fine.
The main issue is that if the EPC rating is either F or G from this date, the property will be considered substandard and the legislation prohibits a landlord from letting out a substandard property.
If you would like to learn more about energy saving then please visit TheGreenAge – this website has 1000s of different energy saving ideas all of which will help improve your energy efficiency rating.
If you would like to book an EPC give us a call on 0208 8192166.
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