EPC rating and leagal rights around it

MX5huggy

manan.shah.82 wrote: »

Hello,

Couple of years ago we bought 1905 3 bed semi detached house and at that point EPC raying was 57 (at least certificate says so). Recently we started thinking about solid wall insulation and one of the provider did infidel check for EPC and said current rating is 39 .

We have done only few changes,
1. Damp treatment (rising damp) on the ground floor
2. Replace carpet with laminated floor in living and dining room (we used thickest underlay B&Q had)
3. Replaced all the standard lights with energy savers.

Can above changes reduce the EPC from 57 to 39?
I'll get another EPC done anyway but is it possible that seller, agency or assessor made a mistake in the EPC which was issued when we bought a house? If so do we have any legal right for this?

Thank you

The only change that makes any difference is the lighting (may be 1 point). Remember the new EPC was done by someone trying to make the house look as bad as possible so that the savings from the proposed wall insulation are greater therefore making Green Deal look better.

If you have the 2 EPC's what exact dates are they? RdSAP (the calculation method for DEA EPC's) Changed to version 2012 from 01/04/2102 version 2009 was used before this from October 2010 version 2005 from April 2006 ish till Oct 10 and version 2001 before this.

When you compare the 2 epc's are the floor areas the same?
If you compare the star ratingings of each feature where are the differences?

PM me if you want to send me both EPC's and I will tell why they are different to the best of my abilities with out having the input data.

Crinkmeister

MX5huggy wrote: »

An EPC is valid for 10 years so you never have had to get a new one (as they have not been running for 10 years yet).

https://www.gov.uk/buy-sell-your-home/energy-performance-certificates

Thanks. Wish I had known that before my lettings agent told me I needed a new one!! :mad:

manan.shah.82

DaftyDuck wrote: »

I believe they are forever changing the grading criteria on EPCs, meaning you can compare two current EPCs, but not a change with time. Mind you, 2 years isn't long, so it may well not be the explanation here. Certainly, what you've done shouldn't change it much, and the only real change is the light bulbs, which should boost the EPC.

I doubt there's any viable legal recourse if the old EPC was incorrect.

Are you sure you aren't mixing the "current" values with the "potential" values?

Thanks. Yeah when we bought the house current was 57 and potential was 58. There was a suggestion about solid wall insulation that 50mm layer can make the rating 70..

This guy said almost same thing regarding the potential but he said current rating is 39.

manan.shah.82

captainhindsight wrote: »

Hi from what you have said it should not make a difference at all, the only thing you've done that could change the rating is the lightbulbs. But this would have very little or no affect on the rating.

If you have solid walls and no insulation, it should recommend solid wall insulation. I am guessing you are looking to get the £6000 cashback?

On the epc it should say the individuals contact details who did the report, if you contact them and ask them for more information hopefully they will be able to help you.

And a comment to Crinkmeister, its important because its the difference between getting upto £7600 cashback for doing work that is recommended on the epc or not. And the epc controls whether or not you can get feed in tariff payments, getting rhi payments, getting £1000s in eco grants.

So it can add up to a lot of money lost if its not done right.

Yes I'm looking around £6K cachback because most quotes I have got are around £15K so I can get maximum £6K cashback.

Hope this makes difference to the house because at the moment house is really cold.

Doozergirl

andrewf75 wrote: »

Perfectly sums up the attitude in this country and the reason houses are so poorly insulated compared to other countries!

I do agree with the principle of your post, but EPCs are often wrong, full of guesswork, aren't capable of being fine tuned and the 'potential' values are all BS because every house has the potential to be A rated if you carried out enough work. I appreciate that most people don't care because of apathy, but I don't care about EPCs because they are flawed.

A passive house that is so insulated that it has absolutely no need for space heating would score far worse on the scale than one insulated to building regs with a new boiler and a wind turbine on the roof that costs more to run than it produces.

nxf

I also had a previous EPC in 2011 that was 49, and the one I have just had done is 63 with no improvements done!

This is for an extended 1802 stone cottage with quarry tiles on mud flooring, single glazing and thin plywood doors. Apparently one large double glazed conservatory makes the whole house super-insulated.

I am waiting the authorising body of the assessor (Stroma) to respond because as I am looking for RHI payments and the green deal providers (3 approached so far) are currently laughing at my chances :rotfl:

Just an idea, but have all new EPC scores been "raised" so it appears we all live in super-insulated homes (also increasing their value slightly) and the Government hit all their green targets???

captainhindsight_2

nxf wrote: »

I also had a previous EPC in 2011 that was 49, and the one I have just had done is 63 with no improvements done!

This is for an extended 1802 stone cottage with quarry tiles on mud flooring, single glazing and thin plywood doors. Apparently one large double glazed conservatory makes the whole house super-insulated.

I am waiting the authorising body of the assessor (Stroma) to respond because as I am looking for RHI payments and the green deal providers (3 approached so far) are currently laughing at my chances :rotfl:

Just an idea, but have all new EPC scores been "raised" so it appears we all live in super-insulated homes (also increasing their value slightly) and the Government hit all their green targets???

I dont understand what the Green Deal Providers are laughing at?

For RHI it is the heat demand on the EPC that is important not the rating.

And why have you gone to a green deal provider for a Green Deal Report for RHI?