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EPC Energy Performance Certificate Shock Surprise

AncientMariner

Our village halls attached house is due to be rented out again and a couple of days ago had a EPC Energy Performance Certificate survey.

Due its form of construction, its a late 1890s Grade II listed building, no cavity walls, no floor insulation etc I was pleased that it achieved a D rating which means that it is OK to rent out, since the current minimum is E for rented property. However I was a little nervous when the surveyor told me that from 2025 the minimum will be C but as a Grade II listed I should be able to get an exemption.

However, the house that my wife rents out scored a D in 2019 and in order to become a C requires, in the suggested order: Floor insulation, Solar Water heating and Photovoltaic panels with a typical expected cost of  £20,000 as per the certificate! I've ignored the sloping ceiling insulation which was Number 1 on the list at £1500, this due to the previous owner converting a utility room into a breakfast room and removing the ceiling and creating a pyramid style ceiling.

The certificate (like all others visible on the UK Gov website) reminds all that the UK average is D.  These rules apparently were from the EU and take into account that the average age of a house is higher in the UK compared with the EU, so theirs have been built on average to a better spec.

Interestingly electric central heating makes the situation worse, my wife's property luckily has had a condensing combi-boiler fitted 2 years ago.  I joked(?) with the surveyor whether an EV charger is good or bad, she was not too sure.  

If you want to check EPCs then go to 

Clive

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    The EPC rating is based purely on the cost of heating, lighting and water heating, it has nothing to do with saving the world.

    I told the landlords of a flat not to remove the storage radiators, they ignored me and got another guy to remove the storage heaters and install electric panel heaters, as you have probably guessed it failed to achieve the required EPC rating when the new requirements came in, so then I had the job of removing the electric panel heaters and installing new Quantum storage heaters, LED lighting and a time controlled on the immersion heater, overall this cost more than £2k.

    However I then had to fit the panel heaters I had removed in the hallway outside the flat in the communal area to create a heated shelter corridor, basically so long as the landlords pay to heat the corridor there isn’t any heat loss from the flat into the corridor so the flat achieved the minimum standards.

    What it really needs is insulation, rather than electric heaters in a corridor that could run 365/24/7 as the tenants leave windows open and turn the heaters up high.

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  • 0

    The EPC rating is based purely on the cost of heating, lighting and water heating, it has nothing to do with saving the world.

    I told the landlords of a flat not to remove the storage radiators, they ignored me and got another guy to remove the storage heaters and install electric panel heaters, as you have probably guessed it failed to achieve the required EPC rating when the new requirements came in, so then I had the job of removing the electric panel heaters and installing new Quantum storage heaters, LED lighting and a time controlled on the immersion heater, overall this cost more than £2k.

    However I then had to fit the panel heaters I had removed in the hallway outside the flat in the communal area to create a heated shelter corridor, basically so long as the landlords pay to heat the corridor there isn’t any heat loss from the flat into the corridor so the flat achieved the minimum standards.

    What it really needs is insulation, rather than electric heaters in a corridor that could run 365/24/7 as the tenants leave windows open and turn the heaters up high.

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