With regulations on landlords now stricter than ever, getting a draft EPC can be a great way to avoid unnecessary hassle down the line.

EPCs are calculated using software that is increasingly difficult to predict; with every update to building regulations, the software is updated, and the way ratings are determined changes. This new software means current commercial EPCs could easily drop a grade next time they are updated, even if nothing about the building has changed. With framework introduced this month, it is more important than ever to ensure a good rating on your Energy Performance Certificate.

MEES means trouble for poor EPC ratings

As of April 2018, under new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards, if the EPC rating of a commercial property has a rating of lower than E, the landlord will not be allowed to let the property, and will be liable to pay a fine of up to £150,000.

Get a draft EPC

By getting us to do a draft EPC, you can get a tailored recommendations report with suggestions of how best to improve the rating of your property when the time comes to get a new report. Our surveyors will look at things like your heating system, insulation, doors and windows to see how energy efficient your home is. They will then give you a plan to improve the current rating of your home, with options of both high and low-cost measures.

EPCs last for ten years. Being prepared means that before this time is up and you need a new EPC, you can put measures into place to ensure you maximise your rating when the time comes. Working with our assessors means you can ensure a rating or ‘E’ or above when you have your real survey which gets lodged and the results listed.

Steer clear of guesswork

Another tip we’d always give to those wanting to maximise their EPC ratings is to make sure you list the most accurate information possible relating to your property. It can seem easier to use default information for things like insulation, heating systems and glazing, when you don’t have the numbers to hand. However, it can be well worth finding information on the specific models in your home, rather than forcing your EPC assessor to estimate.

Give your assessor some warning if you need help finding the relevant information for your home. Replacing defaults – and the extra few points you could get as a result – could be really worth your while. If, for instance, you’re at the top of the F band, this could push you the last few points you need to get up to an ‘E’. Now that MEES is in place, this could be the difference between you being allowed to let your property or not.

Maximise property value

Potential tenants and investors are starting to take not of EPC ratings these days. A more efficient home means cheaper bills for those living in the property, and less work for property developers if you ever come to sell. Therefore, it can be really worth your while to make sure your property has the best chance of a good rating. All potential tenants and buyers are legally entitled to see this information before making any decisions.

For all the reasons above, it is worthwhile to think about getting a draft EPC and making some changes to ensure your commercial property is attractive to potential tenants, and most importantly, that it doesn’t land you with a hefty fine! London EPC can help increase your asset values and minimise risk. Be sure to take these tips into account and get in touch if we can help you further!

Here at London EPC, we regularly get asked where an EPC can be found once lodged. Do you get it in the post, by email, or somewhere else entirely?

Getting your EPC report by post or email

The first place we will send your final report to is your email. This is the preferred way to operate as it doesn’t create paper waste and is received instantly. That being said, we do have customers unable to access the internet, and in this case we will be able to post out the EPC. There will be a postage and handling fee of £5 in addition to the cost of the EPC, however.

Finding your EPC online

Getting a copy by post really is normally unnecessary because every lodged EPC is easily accessible via the EPC Register website. The site is really easy to use and allows you to download every EPC that has been lodged across the country.

If you are after a domestic EPC, you can go to epcregister.com. If, however, you are looking for a non-domestic or commercial EPC for your business, you can visit ndepcregister.com.

Why are all the EPCs on the EPC Register?

The EPC is a publicly-available document, which means anyone has the right to go and look at the energy efficiency rating of your property. Don’t worry – only the general efficiency of the property is seen on the EPC. There is no personal detail on the report such as the householder’s name or contact details.

I can’t find my EPC on the Register

I will assume as part of this question that you have managed to navigate the website OK and have entered your postcode and see other results there from your street. If there is no entry against your address there can only be a couple of explanations:

 The assessor has lodged the EPC against an incorrect address. This is why we will usually send you a draft EPC before sending the final report – it gives you a chance to check that the address details are correct and suitable for lodging. If the address is incorrect and the EPC has already been lodged against another address, then it will need to be re-lodged and this will incur a ‘relodgement’ fee.

 The EPC has not been lodged as yet. If there is an old EPC present against your address, this also means that the latest one has not been lodged yet. It could be that we are awaiting payment for the EPC before lodging, or that the assessor has not yet been able to lodge the report. In this case, give our assessor a call to discuss, as there is probably a good explanation. Sometimes there are delays caused by Landmark, the body that overseas the EPC register. This is usually because the address is not listed as yet and we are waiting for them to add the new address, or because they are experiencing downtime due to technical issues.

The EPC register is a really useful tool. If you have access to the internet it is the most simple way to get hold of an EPC. Most estate agents or solicitors simply need the 20-digit RRN number that you will find at the top of the EPC; they can use this to download the EPC directly from the register as required. So (in most circumstances) there’s no need for you to hang on to a copy or have a printed version. Let’s try and keep the waste to a minimum!

Many homeowners see getting an EPC when they sell their property as a tick box exercise. The EPC is used to give an indication of how energy efficient the property is, and is based on a scale of A-G, with ‘A’ being a really well performing property.

The question we ask here is whether having a good EPC rating makes a difference to the selling price of the property.

Comparing EPCs

To answer the question, we are actually going to use two customers we have recently visited – they live on Kybes Lane near Reading and are neighbours. The properties have the exact same footprint, but the difference in EPC rating is stark:

One property has a ‘B’ rating, while the other has a ‘F’. How do the two properties with the same footprint have such different energy ratings? And further to that, is one worth more than the other on the property market?

The ‘B’ rated property is privately owned and the neighbouring property is rented from a large management agency. Over the last 3 years, the higher-rated property has undergone substantial updates. The old oiler boiler has been replaced by an ultra efficient ground source heat pump. External wall insulation has been added to the outside of the property. The levels of loft insulation have increased dramatically and this property even know has a solar array on the roof, meaning the homeowners benefit from free electricity and government payments in the form of the Feed-in Tariff.

The other property has not undergone any of these works and since it is managed by a large property, the prospect of these works taking place are low.

The two properties have been recently placed on the market, for £905,000 and £650,000. Now obviously the reasons for this could be related to other things like the quality of the internal finish, but it seems that the extensive works that the property has had certainly are a factor in the much higher retail price.

Benefits of a high EPC rating

Obviously the EPC doesn’t have a direct bearing on the price of property, but a high EPC rating does suggest the property is either modern and therefore built to high energy efficient standards (so should only require minimal maintenance costs) or the fact the property has been recently updated (which will mean low energy bills.)

In the case of the energy efficient property that we are looking at here, future buyers will also benefit from the Renewable Heat Incentive payments along with the feed-in tariff payments for the remainder of the contracts (FiT contracts now last 20 years from the date they commence, and the Renewable Heat Incentive is 7 years).

We can draw similar conclusions when comparing other efficient/inefficient properties across London and the surrounding areas. It is fairly common for properties – even when they are sat right next to each other – to have very different levels of efficiency and general upkeep.

The good news is that it looks like energy efficiency of properties will become ever more important as time goes on – and rightly so in our opinion. This is partly because the Government are currently considering linking council tax payments to the efficiency of the property in question. This allows for a mechanism of rewarding households who look to invest in making their properties more efficient.

Does a high EPC rating improve my property’s value?

So going back to the question we first asked, does a good EPC rating improve the value of my property? Well – in a word – yes. Not specifically because of the EPC, but more because of the what it suggests about the property (that it has been well looked after/made more energy efficient). This is especially the case in older properties that have a decent EPC rating (band ‘C’ and above).

When you are next buying a property, don’t discount the information contained in the EPC; you can tell a huge amount about the property if you look through it and it should help you to compare like-for-like properties very quickly. It is worth quickly mentioning that an EPC is only required every 10 years, so the EPC for the property you are considering may no longer be valid. Please check with the estate agent if you need further clarification on this.

If you are interested in getting a residential EPC or commercial EPC carried out on a property please give us a call on 0208 819 2166 or send us an email to epc@london-epc.co.uk and we will get one of our highly trained assessors to carry this out for you.

This blog has been compiled by Alan Bouquet, one of our lead energy assessors here at London EPC. He has completed over 5,000 energy performance certificates over the last 8 years and has a huge amount of experience. If you have any questions for Alan, or any members of the team here at London EPC, please feel free to comment below.

We have covered the basics in collecting data and surveying a residential property for an EPC. In this blog we are going to look at the basics for a commercial property, which is a little different. Whilst even a commercial property is going to have heating, lighting and a building fabric, the way in which they are used is very different; so the survey and the process of producing the certificate is different, to ensure it is a fair reflection of the property.

Preparing to visit

With commercial EPCs, especially on larger properties, it is really important to do your groundwork before you arrive on site. The customer can be really helpful here by providing floor plans and any history of the building, its uses and any other information on the building itself. Floor plans are particularly useful, as it is sometimes very difficult or just time-consuming to do a floor plan from scratch on site. In many cases, a lack of floor plan will add to the cost of the job.

Identifying zones

One of the key differences between commercial and domestic EPCs is that the commercial EPC actually considers the way in which the property is being used. Areas of the building are divided up depending on how they are being used, so that an office area would be divided from a toilet block, and a warehouse or storage area from a circulation area like a stairwell. In smaller properties, there may only be a couple of these zones; for instance, a shop with a toilet and storage area at the back would be 3 zones. Larger properties like hotels or office blocks could have dozens or even hundreds of zones, and each one of these zones will need each wall defined by its type and length.

This process is half the battle for the commercial EPC, so the assessor will spend much of their time dividing up the zones of the property on their floorplan or sketched map.

Checking HVAC

Whilst many homes do not have air conditioning, many commercial spaces use a heat pump for heating and cooling. Furthermore, there are a huge range of heating and cooling systems available for commercial spaces, so a very important step will be to identify the model of the HVAC system, identify the storage capacity of the hot water system, and identify the zones which the system supplies.

Lighting

There are a much bigger range of lighting options for a commercial space, as well as a whole host of different controls and energy saving tech. As such, lighting can play a much bigger role in a commercial EPC than a residential, in some cases altering the rating by 2 or 3 whole bands.

The assessor will look at the fittings and add these to their notes. Where the type of bulb is not obvious, it is useful to provide a spare bulb with the packaging to let the assessor enter the exact details.

Metering

The surveyor will need to see your gas and electric meters. If you sub-meter your heating or lighting, then they will need to see these as well.

Windows

Unlike a domestic EPC, where the type of window is entered, along with information on whether or not there is a typical amount of glazing,  in a commercial EPC the amount of glazing needs to be entered for each elevation in a zone. The assessor will note the walls which have windows and how much area these windows cover. Doors are also considered with exact dimensions, allowing for larger vehicle access doors for example.

Insulation

The level of insulation for the walls, floor and roof are all ascertained in the same way as a domestic EPC. If specific data such as a U and K-value are available, this can also be utilised, but in most cases the assessor will just take a measurement of wall thickness and note the type of construction. Just as with a domestic EPC, the assessor can only go on what they see on the visit, or on documentary evidence. If you have insulation present and it is hidden behind plasterboard or in a sealed roof space, do not expect to see this reflected in the EPC unless you have provided documentation to prove that it is there.

Orientation

The orientation of the building is really important. This simply involves a quick check on Google Maps to work out where North is and to mark this on the site notes.

Renewables

Unlike in a domestic property, where the amount of renewable energy present is quite limited by the size of the home, it is quite possible to have a huge amount of renewable energy in a commercial property. This is great for the EPC rating, but do remember to have the certification or notes from the installer handy for the assessor to take. This will allow a true reflection of the system in the final EPC.

Other considerations for a commercial EPC

We have just covered the basics here, but because commercial properties vary much more widely than a domestic property, there are many other things the assessor may need to consider on the day. We can however, tell you what they won’t need to see:

• We don’t need to see your water meter.
• The certificate does not take into account the quality of the construction, just the materials used in it. Nor does it consider the electrics or the plumbing in the building. It does not look at asbestos in the building. As a general rule, the EPC does not consider how well things are working. It will only consider whether you have them or not, and how efficiently they have been designed. For example, if your air conditioning is leaking and more inefficient as a result, the assessment will take the manufacturers efficiency levels and put these into the software, not work out an efficiency based on how well the system is operating currently.
• The EPC does not take into account the efficiency of any processes within the building. You may have a production line with a super-efficient system for producing your products, but it is the building itself which is being considered as part of the survey, not the equipment used to produce your goods.
• For offices, the computer equipment and other electronic goods are not considered. If you run a laundry, the washing machines are not considered; if you have an office, the computers are not considered.
• Transportation is not part of the survey either, so we won’t be checking how many miles to the gallon your truck or your tractor gets. Nor will you get any points for having a biodiesel fleet or electric cars. The building is the only aspect to be considered for the EPC.
• If your company has several buildings on the same site, each one will need a certificate, and each one is assessed on its own merits.

So there you go – if you need a commercial EPC, just let us know and we will be happy to help arrange your EPC.

We often get calls from landlords or managing agents who are looking to get EPCs carried out on a number of their properties as a batch. There are plenty of good reasons to do this, rather than getting them done as and when required. In this blog, I am going to run you through some of the reasons:

It is cheaper to do a batch of EPCs?

Doing a one-off EPC involves an assessor travelling out to a property and then travelling back again. Often this takes much longer than the actual EPC itself. For this reason, we offer generous discounts if several properties can be scheduled together for one visit – it means that travel cost is reduced and the assessor can visit several properties in one day.

The more properties that are scheduled at the same time, the better the rate for them, especially if these properties are all similar, such as a row of terraces or a block of flats. Why not get them all done for a bulk rate, rather than paying a premium each time a certificate is needed?

You can assess your properties in one go

For a landlord with multiple properties, it can be useful to get a clear picture of the efficiency rating of all your properties at the same time. With the new regulations coming into force next year which will require all properties on the rental market to be E rated or higher, it really makes sense to get your head around the problem now, rather than panicking at the last minute.

We also often get asked to carry out surveys at the same time as gas safety checks, or electrical safety checks. Your tenant will be appreciative if you can get these sorts of things all out of the way at the same time, rather than having to stay home for multiple appointments on different days. We are really flexible with our appointment times, so maybe it would make sense to bundle all your surveys into one time slot.

Getting a last minute EPC can be a pain

An EPC is required for all properties that are going to be rented out. If you don’t have one in place, you could be hit with quite a sizeable fine. This can make the last week before renting out your property really stressful, trying to find an assessor last minute to get the job done. You can preempt all that by getting all your properties surveyed in one go.

With the new regulations coming into force in 2018, getting your EPC last minute just won’t be an option. If you find out that it is not a minimum E rating, you won’t have much time to put that right before your tenant moves in, and it could cause you some costly delays. If you get it done now, you will have plenty of time to consider the best options, get several quotes for any remedial works, and get the work done in good time.

So it makes sense to get your EPCs done now! London EPC are offering some great rates on batch EPCs, so give us a call for a quote now and we will be happy to help.

Getting an EPC on your commercial property is really easy. You book your assessment, a surveyor comes out to visit and takes some photos and measurements, and then a few days later your report arrives in your inbox. Once you’ve got your EPC however, what can you infer from it and how do you know what to do next?

Information on the EPC Certificate

The certificate itself is a really simple document, just a few blocks of text and a rating. A domestic EPC certificate has quite a bit more detail, with some recommendations and information about the property. Due to the huge variation in the types of commercial properties, a commercial EPC does not include this. There are just two pages, with the second page taken up by information on the assessor and their credentials. This means there isn’t a great deal you can glean from the EPC itself other than the rating you have achieved.

The Recommendations Report

Along with the EPC, you can download another document called the Recommendations Report. This is a separate document, unique to commercial EPCs. It has quite a lot of information on it regarding various potential improvements to the property, but unfortunately it is usually very generic and doesn’t have much detail on your property itself. Most assessors will not bother editing this document and will just let it auto generate the recommendations, making it even more generic. The reason for this is that it is a unaudited part of the service – i.e. it is not a requirement of the EPC procedure for the assessor. It is just there at the end of the process should you want it.

Because the EPC market has very much been a race to the bottom, with prices incredibly competitive, there is often little time nor really any reason to focus on this part of the report. Most clients simply want the EPC done as cheaply as possible and do not look at the recommendations report. This is all going to change very soon, as new government legislation comes in from April 2018 meaning that all rental properties, both domestic and commercial, will need to achieve an Erating to be able to rent it out. This is only for new leases, but from 2020 this will apply to sitting tenants as well. So just getting an EPC for the lowest price might not be the smartest move. You will need them to be accurate and to follow up with the assessor to work out recommended improvements.

Importance of the EPC Rating

Many properties in the UK already have an E rating, but if your property does not, you may want to ask the assessor to produce a report explaining what the reasons are for a low score and the best ways to improve the rating. Here at London EPC we offer several tailored services as additional options to our clients. You can find out more about these services here.

If you are looking for a detailed recommendations report, you should always bring this up with us prior to booking the survey. There will be an additional fee for these services, as they will add considerably more time to the job. They can prove incredibly useful, however. There is no point getting very expensive works carried out if they aren’t going to get your rating up to the required level. In some cases there will be some really cheap and easy ways to increase your rating. In some cases it may even be a case of providing more evidence to the assessor.

The EPC is put together using only a visual inspection on the day of the visit. If you have any more documentary evidence of insulation installed, model numbers of various HVAC systems or any other useful information which may affect the rating, speak to your assessor before the report is lodged to see if it may be able to help improve your report. If this information is not available, defaults will be used, which usually reduce the potential rating.

If in doubt, as always, give us a call and we will be happy to help explain what would be best for your property.

EPC prices can range greatly, depending on whether it’s a domestic or commercial property, and its size and layout. We thought it might be helpful to give you an idea of the cost.

Domestic EPC

From £65 for 1 bedroom properties. See the full price list here.

Commercial EPC

Warehouses from £180.

Small shops from £130.

Offices depend on number of storeys and size – from £150 upwards.

Areas with different uses that are connected are also considered different zones, so this will affect the cost.

Hotels can be very expensive because EPC costs are calculated depending on the number of ‘zones’ within a property, in this case rooms (en-suite bathrooms add to the cost).

An open plan office is usually quite cheap. Similarly, warehouses usually only have a few zones, so they can be pretty cheap too.

Save yourself money in the long run

Whatever the upfront cost of getting an EPC, it can save you money in future. Private tenants, householders and businesses can lower their bills by implementing home improvement measures suggested by their surveyor. Landlords will want to avoid the £4000 fine they will be eligible for if their property has an EPC rating of less than E.

Get in touch with us for a quote!

If you are a landlord, you have probably heard the news that a Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) will be introduced in April 2018. This means landlords will be liable to pay a fine of £4000 if their property is rated lower than a E for energy performance.

As Energy Performance certificates are valid for 10 years, it is worth thinking about getting one before next year. This will give you time to implement any changes recommended by your EPC assessor to improve your rating.

In addition, there are some other benefits of improving your EPC rating that you might not have thought of:

Keep your tenants happy

It can be really frustrating wasting money on heating that quickly escapes, and having a cold home is pretty miserable. Insulating and draught-proofing the building sufficiently is an easy fix. Fewer complaints from tenants means less stress for you, and you can be proud of what you provide!

A good EPC rating will increase your property value

No-one wants to buy a house it’s going to cost them loads to heat. This is worth noting if you might want to sell one day. A property with an EPC rating of B is worth on average 5% more than a D-rated property.

Upgrading your EPC rating can be cheap

You may be able to upgrade the property to an E or better with low-cost measures such as draught-proofing and small amounts of insulation.

Tenants will be more likely to pay their rent on time!

Fuel poverty is a big issue in the UK, largely thanks to its inefficient housing stock. Average annual household energy expenditure in the UK is about £1200 per year. F and G-rated properties cost twice as much in bills – on average £2140 (F) and £2670 (G). Tenants will be more likely to be able to pay their rent on time if they are spending less on energy bills.

Give us a call to get a cheap EPC quote!

1. All our EPC surveys are turned around quickly!

We can turn around your report in 24 hours.

2. All our EPC assessors are professionally qualified

All our assessors are knowledgable and highly qualified.

3. Our EPC energy surveys are great value!

Our prices are really competitive – just give us a call!

4. We have a huge amount of energy survey experience

We have carried out 10,000s of EPC assessments across London and worked with private individuals, estate agents and ECO installers.

5. We can recommend trusted installers

We have access to an installer database, should you require recommended installers after we have made our recommendations.

6. Need lots of EPCs to be done? We can offer bulk discounts

We can offer discounts if you request more than one EPC.

7. We pride ourselves on our reliability

Let down by other surveying companies? Have no fear – all our assessors are timely and dependable, turning up on time and getting on with the energy survey with the minimum of fuss.

8. We carry out EPC surveys across the whole of London

We have domestic and commercial EPC assessors in every part of London.

9. No outsourcing – all our assessors are in house!

Unlike other companies which outsource jobs, our assessors all work directly for London EPC. This ensures we can guarantee they know what they are doing!

10. We carry out plenty of other services – not just EPCs

We started carrying out domestic and commercial EPC assessments across London in 2011, but since then we have added many strings to our bow! If you would like to take the opportunity to get an air conditioning report, Legionella risk assessment or ECO calculations, we can do this too – along with many other kinds of survey.

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.