How much attention do you pay to the EPCs?

Ivana_Tinkle

In my opinion EPCs are pretty useless if you're buying an older house. Ours is rated G, mainly because it has solid stone walls so is considered to be poorly insulated, even though the walls are more than two feet thick! Our actual heating costs are less than a quarter of the projected ones. It's a total box-ticking exercise.

Also, when you compare EPCs for similar properties they're wildly inconsistent. Our next-door neighbour gets a much higher rating than us, largely because their walls have been "assumed to be insulated" whereas ours were assumed not to be. The houses were replastered by the same person at the same time (mid 80s) with the same products and the same finish!

JustAnotherSaver

If it helps any, here are the links.

The house that has been dropped £10k yesterday: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42060023.html

I've no idea when this house was built.

The EPC is at the bottom of that URL, but then a more detailed write up is here: https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressDownloadReport.html?id=59077818224d03c612f3290cff090cecc73abbb6e187e0a0ab140dd8a34870ef

Estimated energy cost over 3 years: £5,874
Over 3 years you could save: £4,311

Now compare that to a typical other one we're looking at.

This house was built in 2001: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26755761.html

EPC at the bottom, but more details here: https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressDownloadReport.html?id=24b3c8a0696917bd7c08353546001519d7c9cd7ef3a28974ab140dd8a34870ef

Estimated cost over 3 years: £1,950
Over 3 years you could save: £306

This is typical of other houses we're looking at - low 3 year figures. The first house is in a nice area (so is the 2nd tbh) so we were/are interested in it.

Thing is we're closely monitoring monthly costs to see whether we can afford a place or not. We don't want to be having a chunk of our months wage being spent on poor heating.


One thing we noticed is the lack of decent radiators (or any radiator full stop in the living room).

GwylimT

Seabee42 wrote: »

If you really have super insulated your home I feel for you in this weather!

We quite enjoy having a nice cool home actually.

GwylimT

Ours is B rated but as a new build I would expect that, I do listen to them to an extent where newer properties are concerned, but with older ones they aren't very useful. Our last home was a stone walled so it was rated poorly despite the fact that it was naturally well insulated against heat in the summer and the cold in winter.

sparklysaver

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

The house that has been dropped £10k yesterday: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42060023.html

I've no idea when this house was built.

The EPC is at the bottom of that URL, but then a more detailed write up is here: https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressDownloadReport.html?id=59077818224d03c612f3290cff090cecc73abbb6e187e0a0ab140dd8a34870ef

.....

One thing we noticed is the lack of decent radiators (or any radiator full stop in the living room).

If I'm reading the EPC correctly, it doesn't seem to have ANY heating. The EPC calculations are based on portable electric heaters, and it states that the hot water is supplied by an immersion heater. I can see one heater in the hallway on the pictures, but that looks like an electric one? The details also mention an electric heater in the bathroom but no other radiators or boiler is mentioned.

JustAnotherSaver

We haven't been for a view yet so we don't have first hand experience, but i agree with you.

How much would/can it be to install decent radiators throughout the house then? My folks had this done recently (about 5yrs ago at a guess) & i don't remember them complaining too much about an installation price. Our house was built approx 1705 IIRC.

I wonder if it'd be possible to knock this installation cost off the asking price, or whether they'd likely counter & say that's why they reduced by £10k.

Our budget is £150k. Many of the houses in this area meeting our criteria are £160k to £170k. Houses have sold for £150k when you look at the STCs & such. It's just a case of being patient.

Still, is that the only problem you spot with this - the lack of radiators?

ash28

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

My wife has found a site tonight where you can view EPC details in full - more than just the bit you get at the bottom of most rightmove ads.

One of the houses we were looking at is listed up as a G rating with the number being about 12. It was today reduced by £10k from £159,950 to £149,950.

She had a look at this more detailed EPC thing & the cost of all these heating improvements is quite an amount (ignoring the solar panel suggestions), even for just 'basics'.

Most of the houses we're looking at, the projected heating cost is something like £1,500 IIRC, whereas this house is more like £5,000.

Are these things to be taken with a pinch of salt or are they to be seriously considered?

The house doesn't have radiator central heating but is assumed to use portable electric heaters as the main source of heating (ouch!!) and wall mounted gas heaters as a secondary source. Of course the wall mounted gas heaters may be all they do use - in practice.

It uses a an electric immersion heater for hot water - the hot water tank must have either a very thin jacket or none.....modern hot water tanks are dipped foam.

With a gas central heating system you'd have most of the stuff that would boost the energy rating and reduce the bills.....no hot water tank, gas central heating a thermostat and TRVs. No idea how much they cost to install.....the EPC says between £3k and £7k....no idea if that's right or not.

I would probably try and knock a few grand off the price

MobileSaver

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

How much attention do you pay to the EPCs?

Absolutely none. The tickbox scoring means they are pretty much useless for anything.

Gra76

MobileSaver wrote: »

Absolutely none. The tickbox scoring means they are pretty much useless for anything.

This is how I view them. I certainly wouldn't let it sway me if we found the right house. It could have the lowest energy rating or the highest, I really wouldn't be bothered one way or another if the house was the right one for me and my family.

thedalmeny

We purchased a new build property (4 bedroom detached) at the beginning of April, £192,000 list price which we got reduced to £182,000.

On the same estate they're now advertising a new build 4 bedroom detached which is 50sqft bigger (It's lounge is smaller, so is family room but bigger kitchen / dinner) but has no garage and no driveway.... For £197,000...

I'm very glad we purchased when we did tbh.