If you rent: Get an Energy Performance Certificate before you accept

natz338

Hi all,

After a sting on energy rates in a rental property I wanted to share this tip.

If you rent a property, your landlord must legally provide you with an Energy Performance Certificate (ECP), which will grade the property in the same way that appliances like washing machines are graded these days, with grade A being most economical.

It's not popular amongst landlords and agencies, of course, but it's VITAL you get one as a tenant. You'll be surprised the difference you'll see across properties old and new alike and an ECP will give you some forewarning if heating and running a property is going to cost you a fortune :T

Make sure you get one!

If your landlord won't provide one, report them to Trading Standards who are able to fine them and insist they provide an ECP.

Nat

chris1973

Good advice, but your eyes and common sense during a viewing will also tell you the basics.

I.E does the current occupier seem to have a lot of extra heaters lying around or in cupboards

Does the actual room feel chilly or damp when you tour

Are some rooms warmer than others (ie indicating that the current occupier might be stuggling to heat the whole house)

Has the property had any history of flooding (Even when 'dried' enough to move back into, previously flooded properties can feel cold in the walls for a long time afterwards - effectively giving a fridge effect)

Is the property near water / open fields - these dont retain heat as well as a close cosy estate with houses around each other helping to retain heat. Properties near water may also be colder in the mornings, even during late summer due to the dew point being lower because of the water proximity and mist / fog formation.

Has the property got GCH?, All electric properties are likely to be more expensive to heat than GCH ones, even on E7 so if you are used to / have come from a similar sized property with GCH, expect to budget a little more every month for the increased cost.

Prepay meters - if fitted are likely to cost more, and will more than likely have a fairly hefty standing charge

Condensation - Look for signs of condensation and damp, even on DG

In other words, don't just judge a property on how luvvly the curtains and carpet are, poke (not literally!) into the Electricity cupboard and check number and type of heating appliances also.

If you get to speak to the current / previous occupier ask them to leave you copies of some of their bills (on the pretence of helping change supplier if you don't want your reasons being obvious), better still ask them how expensive they find it to heat in Winter. In a rental property they have no bias or reason to lie!.

grizzly1911

natz338 wrote: »

Hi all,

After a sting on energy rates in a rental property I wanted to share this tip.

If you rent a property, your landlord must legally provide you with an Energy Performance Certificate (ECP), which will grade the property in the same way that appliances like washing machines are graded these days, with grade A being most economical.

It's not popular amongst landlords and agencies, of course, but it's VITAL you get one as a tenant. You'll be surprised the difference you'll see across properties old and new alike and an ECP will give you some forewarning if heating and running a property is going to cost you a fortune :T




Make sure you get one!

If your landlord won't provide one, report them to Trading Standards who are able to fine them and insist they provide an ECP.

Nat

You definitely should see one -especially as it provides work for a family member.

Whilst it is an indication and shows that the best or worst of everything may have been done, or not, to make it efficient, it is all relative.

In addition, like any distribution spread, the ones at the extreme may be chalk and cheese those in the middle may not be that much different.

Gradings can be affected by daft things too. For instance we have an electric fire as supplemental heat in our lounge. Never use it as the GFCH is man enough but this is a black mark. We have a conservatory that has an electric heater, we don't use it in the winter apart from "functions" again a black mark. One non energy efficient bulb can also give a black mark. LAck of insulation in the wall/solid walls is also a black mark but may not make much difference if you live on your own.

Try to avoid old damp, draughty, electrically heated properties - oh sounds like a typical rental property though;)

natz338

Chris1973 - great list, thank you.

I wish we'd thought more about this one: "Has the property got GCH?, All electric properties are likely to be more expensive to heat than GCH ones, even on E7 so if you are used to / have come from a similar sized property with GCH, expect to budget a little more every month for the increased cost" before we moved in, but alas that wouldn't have helped - the excess is MUCH more than a little and other factors influence this too.

We were stung because the property was completely renovated - no sign whatsoever of any of the things you mention... those would have been obvious. It's a rogue property that definitely needs some help from an ECP and I for one am glad to discover them.

The benefit of hindsight hey!

chris1973

no sign whatsoever of any of the things you mention... those would have been obvious

Good questions to ask the Agent / Landlord if they are not obvious. As the climate in this country often requires some kind of heating to be used for the majority of the year, and with costs to heat any property escalating and with heating being possibly the largest utility cost equation in the everyday running costs of any building, then ,in my opinion the question should flow from the lips with equal priority as "What council tax band is it in" - partly because utlity costs are about the same or slightly more than an annual council tax bill.

This is what amazes me, people will lose no time to enquire about Council Tax charges but never go into much depth in relation to the nuts and bolts aspect of 'how much does it cost to run', when in essence the annual costs are roughly the same, in fact with the rate of increases in utilities its likely to be more than a CT bill very soon.

rogerblack

natz338 wrote: »

Chris1973 - great list, thank you.

I wish we'd thought more about this one: "Has the property got GCH?, All electric properties are likely to be more expensive to heat than GCH ones,

The difference between electric storage heaters and gas central heating may be quite small. Differences in insulation can easily be severalfold different in terms of heating - dwarfing the difference.

chris1973

rogerblack wrote: »

The difference between electric storage heaters and gas central heating may be quite small. Differences in insulation can easily be severalfold different in terms of heating - dwarfing the difference.

Sorry, I was posting from personal findings. I rent a lot of properties and rarely stay in the same one for longer than 6 months. In the past i've rented properties with all manner of heating, and have found that bills for a property with GCH and 4 radiators came out at around 20% - 30% cheaper (£55 a month was the last GCH figure), and i've never been able to heat a similar sized property with 4 storage heaters for the same figures / budget as GCH, whether the E7 has been on pre-pay or credit meter and where i've changed to the most competitive supplier.

Maybe its just a coincidence of course, and all of the GCH properties were much better insulated than the storage heated ones, but I can only post and speak from my own experiences .

grizzly1911

chris1973 wrote: »

Maybe its just a coincidence of course, and all of the GCH properties were much better insulated than the storage heated ones, but I can only post and speak from my own experiences .

Not only that the probably give out heat during the day when you may not be thereto benefit. Even with the max input, burst off during the day and then opened later they don't give much when you need it at night. You then need to top up with auxiliary heating which is less efficient/costs more.

Pincher

I did an EPC recently, and got a D for a very warm house.
It's double glazed, loft insulated (20 years ago, 100mm only), and has a band A condensing boiler. The only negative point is it's got solid walls. We have bathroom fans to prevent damp, and we never had a damp problem anyway. The loft insulation is covered by original floor board, then rubber underlay, then carpet, but he ignores them as irrelevant. The last tenants stayed a happy seven yeas and had two new borns.

I chatted to the EPC inspector, and he can only go by what he can verify, and they only predict heat loss theretically, not measured.

The house I am doing up right now will get an even worse score, because the roof Kingspan insulation is sealed forever. Unless I rip open the plasterbaord, so he can verify the Kingspan, he will mark the house as having NO loft insulation! I have solid walls, so I have put in 40mm of internal thermal plaster: yet again, not verifiable, so they don't count!

I tend to rent to overseas posting tenants, who don't even look at the EPC, but if I was renting to local tenants who judge the house by the EPC, they would see the D, and not the house.

bengasman

natz338 wrote: »

...If you rent a property, your landlord must legally provide you with an Energy Performance Certificate (ECP), which will grade the property in the same way that appliances like washing machines are graded these days, with grade A being most economical.

It's not popular amongst landlords and agencies, of course, but it's VITAL you get one as a tenant....

The ECP is a totally useless bit of paper that will tell you very little about the house's potential energy use because the numbers are not based on an actual assessment but on the averages for that type of house.
The parts that are of influence can be accurately "judged" by any half bright prospective occupant from the landlords description of the house e.g. old draughty doors/windows and /or old heating system = high gas bill.

Road_Hog

natz338 wrote: »

If you rent a property, your landlord must legally provide you with an Energy Performance Certificate (ECP), which will grade the property in the same way that appliances like washing machines are graded these days, with grade A being most economical.

If your landlord won't provide one, report them to Trading Standards who are able to fine them and insist they provide an ECP.

Nat

That's a great idea, anyone that wants to find themselves looking for a new property to rent go right ahead and report their landlord to trading standards/local council etc.

This ECP is a legacy from NuLab that just wanted to raise taxes and collect fees from running the scheme. The same thing with HIPS, they were going to revalue properties on any improvements to move up the council tax bands.

Yes, the landlord will pay initially, but who do you think he recoups the cost from? Sure, if you're entering a new rental contract and top market rent is being charged, then by all means ask for it, as it is probably already built into the cost. But if you already rent a property, then you know what the bills are and as has been said, if a house has double glazing and GCH with rads then it's probably going to be fairly decent.