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.

What is an energy efficiency certificate?

An energy efficiency certificate is just another name for an energy performance certificate (EPC), which is a report detailing the efficiency of your property – be it a residential or commercial building. It takes into account factors such as the function of rooms, heating and ventilation systems and insulation.

When do you need an EPC?

If you are selling or renting a commercial property, claiming money from the Feed-in Tariff, or signing off on a new build.

A domestic EPC is not mandatory, but can help you identify ways to improve the energy efficiency of your home.

EPCs are valid for 10 years, unless the property undergoes considerable restructuring works.

Commercial vs. Domestic EPCs

The fundamental difference between commercial and domestic EPCs is that a commercial EPC takes into account how the premises is used – a domestic EPC is always carried out on a home, but a commercial property could contain separate office space, storage or production areas. in a commercial EPC, these areas are ‘zoned’ and surveyed separately.

Commercial EPCs look into all types of building structures – the only prerequisite is that they have a shell and a core and can be conditioned. On the other hand a domestic property always has a bathroom, bedrooms, a living room and kitchen. The bigger variety in the shape, size and use of commercial rooms makes the assessment process much broader, with more things to consider. It means there is a bigger range of possible heating, ventilation and cooling systems.

Find more information in our blogs or give us a call if you have any questions!

When you are getting your EPC carried out on a commercial property the costs can be fairly high in comparison to a domestic property. Why is this? Well there is a fair bit more to do than a domestic certificate, and the cost of lodgement is much higher. If you have a large complicated building, like a multi storey hotel, office or factory, it can be very time consuming to put together the dimensions for the building and create zones for all those different areas.

How to keep your costs down

When you get a quote from us, we will take into account a number of different factors in calculating the final price. The sort of things we consider are: the size of the property, the complexity of the building, the location and the heating, cooling and hot water systems.
All these things will contribute to the final price, but there is one way you can make our lives much easier – scale floor plans will save a lot of time, and mean we don’t have to go around measuring every single room. In a larger property, this could make the difference between a 3 hour visit and a 6 hour visit.
As such, if you happen to have scale floor plans available for us to use, please let us know when we quote you. Depending on the property we may be able to offer you a 10% discount on the final price! If you don’t have plans, don’t worry, we can take measurements on site ourselves.
Additionally, if you have any data on the HVAC system, insulation or the lighting in the building, we may be able to improve the rating on the EPC – so let us have this information in advance or during the visit. We can’t add this data into the software after we have lodged the report unless a re-lodgement fee is paid.

Give us a call today to talk through your options!

Are you a sales or letting agent based in London looking to outsource your EPCs? Get in touch with us here at London EPC. We have a huge number of domestic/commercial energy assessors on our books, all qualified to carry out EPC reports professionally and efficiently.

London EPC – The home of certified energy assessors

We know for many letting agents that an EPC is just a piece of paper, but our team of London-based energy assessors take pride in the level of service we offer to our clients. We already have an extensive client base in the city and we are looking to expand our operations even further.

Requirements of Estate Agents

At London EPC we also recognise that sometimes things need to be turned around on very tight deadlines. We have energy assessors all over London, so typically we can complete EPCs within 24 hours, if not on the same day!

London EPC – reliable and professional Energy Performance Certificates

We also know that we need to be competitive when it comes to the price of carrying out EPCs – however there is also a price that comes with reliability and professionalism. All our assessors have excellent interpersonal skills, making London EPC the ideal business partner to help drive your business further.

If you are interested in engaging London EPC to carry out commercial EPC or domestic EPC surveys then please do get in touch on 0208 8192166 and lets see if we can help!

There can be confusion as to what actually constitutes a domestic EPC and when you might need a commercial EPC on your property even though it is being used as a dwelling. Here we are going to try and give a definitive explanation of the differences in the context of dwellings.

Renting individual rooms

If your property has individual rooms that are being rented out, the key thing is going to be whether each room is a self-contained unit. That means, is the room you are renting a unit with its own kitchen and bathroom, or is it simply a room with shared bathroom and kitchen facilities?

If you have a self-contained unit, then each one of those units is going to need a domestic EPC. If you have a property with several rooms being rented out and shared amenities, then you will need a commercial certificate.

Why? Well it seems that the regulations tend to treat the latter as a business, and therefore a commercial property, even though the local council may have designated the property as domestic and not a hotel or bed and breakfast, for instance.

Why a commercial EPC for a dwelling?

It may seem a little odd to do a commercial EPC for a domestic property, but there is a good reason behind this. The RdSAP software is extremely restrictive in the way it models a property, and it has been concluded by the powers that be that it does not model shared dwellings particularly well. The non-domestic software is a lot more detailed, and can model a much wider variety of buildings – meaning that it can produce a much better representation of this sort of dwelling than the domestic software.

What does this mean for you?

As a landlord or agent, that means you will need to pay a little more and get a non-domestic EPC performed rather than a standard domestic certificate. Cost wise, you are looking at £120 upward for a commercial certificate, where you may only be paying £50 for a domestic. It may be a little frustrating, but it is better to get the right certificate as you don’t want any problems with you sale or letting later on. You may find a rogue assessor willing to try and pass the building off as a domestic property, but they are likely to get found out at the audit stage, meaning your EPC could be cancelled without warning, and you will probably need to pay for a commercial certificate down the road anyway.

Feed-in Tariff payments and shared spaces

Another situation that we see on occasion is where a block of flats or set of apartments has had solar PV installed or another renewable, and the owner is looking to claim the feed-in tariff payment. For the majority of properties, a PV system is only hooked up to a specific property and a domestic certificate is fine to claim the tariff. If, however, the PV is hooked up to the lighting or heating in a shared space like a corridor or stairwell, then a commercial certificate will be required for this specific space in order to claim the tariff. This may seem a little odd because you will end up with EPCs for stairwells and corridors, in some cases only a few meters each. This is simply a quirk of the system unfortunately – if your small corridor has a rating of E or lower, it could cause some problems claiming your feed in tariff at the full rate.

What kind of EPC do I need?

If you are in any doubt about your property and which type of EPC you need, you should give us a call. We can refer your specific query direct to our accreditation body, who can give you a definitive answer as to the EPC you need.

Energy Performance Certificates were introduced in 2007 to measure the efficiency of buildings. As EPCs need to be renewed every 10 years, the first generation of EPC holders may now require new surveys.

Commercial EPC

Getting an EPC done will give you pointers on how to make your business premises more efficient, saving you money on bills which can go towards other projects. Further to this, legally you must display an EPC if:

1. the total useful floor area is over 500 square meters
2. the building is frequently visited by the public
3. an EPC has already been produced for the building’s sale, rental or construction
4. you are planning to rent or sell the property

If you fail to comply, you could be fined between £500 and £5,000 based on the value of the building,

Domestic EPC

You’ll need a domestic EPC if you are renting or selling a property. If you’re a landlord, it is more important than ever to ensure your EPC certificate is up to date. Since April 2016, tenants have had the right to request certain energy efficiency improvements that the landlord may not reasonably refuse. Renting a property with a recent EPC allows them to see what measures could be taken to lower their energy bills.

It is already a legal requirement for landlords to have an EPC conducted prior to rental, but as of spring 2018, landlords will not be able to rent out properties unless they hold an EPC rated E. Landlords face a fine of up to £4000 for non-compliance. It’s therefore well worth spending a small amount of money on an assessment now!

Don’t let it slip your mind – we know life can get in the way and it’s easy to forget these things – book ahead to make sure you’re not rushing around trying to get a new EPC at the last minute.

Get in touch if you need a domestic or commercial EPC!

The UK has one of the oldest housing stocks in Europe and, unfortunately, with age comes inefficiency. Older properties, particularly those built prior to the 1930s with solid wall construction, leak heat.

This is a particular problem in the private rental market where tenants have to pay the energy bills, but they are not in a position to lower them by installing meaningful energy efficiency solutions such as solid wall insulation or new energy efficient boilers.

Since April 2016, tenants have had the right to request certain energy efficiency improvements that the landlord may not unreasonably refuse.

Building on that, the Government is also proposing that from April 2018, landlords will not be able to rent out properties unless they hold an EPC rated E. (Find out more about EPCs here.)

Has the government gone far enough?

Whilst it is an encouraging sign that the government is starting to take energy efficiency more seriously, we feel that a lot more could be done. Introducing minimum standards is a great idea, but an E rating is very straightforward to achieve on most homes.

For the vast majority of homes, a relatively modern heating system and basic draught proofing and loft insulation will get them up to an E rating at least. We feel that instead of giving a rating level to achieve, the policy could be to ensure that certain measures are made mandatory.

For example, if cavity wall insulation, or loft insulation are recommended on a rental property, it should be installed. If the heating system has an efficiency rating below a certain level, it should be replaced. This would ensure that each property is treated the same and that these basic measures have been carried out in all rented properties.

Why should landlords embrace it?

As of spring 2018, landlords face a fine of up to £4000 for non-compliance. This means that in theory they would have to make a significant financial outlay in some cases to ensure that they can rent their properties.

However, at the moment, the ECO (Energy Companies Obligation) means landlords can have measures installed in their properties at no up front cost, with the tenant repaying the cost in their electricity bills. ECO is a grant, either means tested or paid out based on postcode.

In the long run, energy efficient properties will be more attractive since the tenants moving in will be able to pay less each month on their bills. There really is no reason why landlords can’t act now and start the ball rolling – there are plenty of ways to improve your property and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

Get in touch with us for an EPC!