Nice House, low EPC rating

wildbreed100

I have found a nice house at a good price. It is detatched (never thought I would be able to afford a detached), well maintained, nice floors, good condition, extension to the kitchen. Basically I could move in and have no work to do on the house. However the energy rating on the EPC is a low 30. Should I be overly concerned about this. Is it wise for me to purchase ?. I know the sellerss would not go any lower in price. It is a good deal and at my price have only seen 1 or 2 houses in this condition.
I do not know if I am being silly, it is all so new and confusing. I understand a low EPC means higher energy bills, but how much higher and should that put me off of a purchase.

googler

If you like the house, buy it.

If you're likely to be bankrupted by a (possibly slight) increase in heating bills, then don't buy it.

If you can buy it and make some improvements like insulating the loft, cavity wall insulation, double or triple glazing, then buy it.

Choices, choices.

You may be able to argue the price down by implying that you'll 'need' to do all this extra work ..... but you may also find the sellers tell you to take a hike when you try.

Doozergirl

The EPC will tell you what you can do to help improve the rating.

If you like old houses, it will be hard to find one with a great rating. To be honest, I don't think you ever see anything as an A, rarely a B, so the scale isn't really from top to bottom and therefore not as much difference from a good house as it might look.

Ignore their idea of the 'improved' value as they never seem to have much difference between present and potential when the fact is that any old house could be made much more efficient.

You can get so much insualtion for so little money - £180 is it? that it's worth getting that organised as soon as you move in.

Louba

wildbreed100 wrote: »

I do not know if I am being silly, it is all so new and confusing. I understand a low EPC means higher energy bills, but how much higher and should that put me off of a purchase.

Hi - just wanted to say I don't think this is silly at all - these report have been introduced with very little guidance on what you should do with the information! I had an EPC done on my flat so I could rent it but I was really annoyed that my flat came out a fairly poor rating when in fact my bills were very low in comparison to most people I know. In addition it said I could save money by installing low energy bulbs - I can tell you that every bulb in the house save for the spot lights in the kitchen were low energy. I wouldn't be put off if you love the house, if you can ask the current owners about their bills so you know what to expect and look at some of the other threads on this site on how you can reduce your bills.

Good luck!

david29dpo

The software that spits out the EPCs is pretty poor so dont take to much notice of it. According to mine i pay £2500 a year for gas! Less than half that in REAL life.

Evee2000

HI

The fact that it is a detached property means that it has 4 heat loss walls - if the walls are solid brick or cavity with no insulation, this will contribute to a relatively low rating. Have a look at the full epc (not just the graphs) and find out what the potential for the property is, and the related 'low cost' and 'higher cost' measures that have been recommended in order to improve things to a degree. With a detached (with aforementioned 4 heat loss walls) you may be limited in getting the ratings too much higher.

iscrimger

Don't you have those home information packs like Scotland? You get the EPC rating plus a report that details the rating?

For example your EPC is brought down by not having energy efficient lighting. Or old electric storage heaters. There is bound to be a reason explained as to why the score is low?

silvercar

My current home would get a lower rating than the previous one, yet it heats up better in winter and has similar fuel bills for a bigger size. Go figure.

Swipe

My new house has a mid D rating (detached bungalow) and my old house (semi) was a low F rating. The bungalow feels much colder in winter and has loft insulation and cavity wall insulation. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the EPC.

Welshwoofs

Energy rating on mine is bloody awful (with not a lot of room for improvement) as it's an old solid brick building. That may scare people off, but in reality our energy bills are lower than pretty much everyone I know because the central heating and hot water is run from a multi-fuel stove. I'd ask the owners what their average bills are.

wildbreed100

Thanks for your help. I greatly appreciate it.
You have really made me feel at ease. When viewing I did ask the owners what their bills were like and they gave a figure which was average and basically the same as the other homes I had viewed.
Paying a little bit extra for energy would not bankrupt me and I would get the house I want. The house I rent now is old and so my bill may probably be the same.