Does anyone EVER look at EPCs..?

silverwhistle

My favourite:
"Solar water heating"
"Indicative cost: £4,000-£6,000" - Really? It's vacuum tubes and a pump. Maybe that is the market rate - I don't know.
"Typical savings per year: £37". The back of the house is South Facing - absolutely ideal, and throughout the whole year, including the Summer, you're only going to see a saving of £37? Taking the £6000 price, £37/yr means you'll see a return in 162 years!

Exactly, absolutely ridiculous. At 6K you can get a 4Kw PV installation, which with a little bit of electronics and an immersion gives me all my hot water for the summer months plus Feed In Tariff and electricity savings. Return on track to be £600+...

jonnyb1978

captainhindsight wrote: »

What have solar water heaters got to do with anything I mentioned?

I was talking about things like getting the whole house 're plastered for free if it is a solid wall property, big saving!

Money off Windows and doors, free boilers if i put the right tenants in etc.

This is ment to be a money saving website, these are big money savings.

I have bought more than one terrace house as a buy to let over the past 12 months and had New central heating system for free, plastered all walls for free, 1500 cashback for Windows and doors, the only thing I had to pay full price for was fittings in the referb and the rewire.

All of these grants are through reading the epc

In response to your first line.
It's a lot to do with it as you quoted yourself you will not be able to unreasonably refuse the recommendations. Which if you refuse will probably be a cost issue which make the recommendation garbage.

BeansOnToast_2

I'm pretty sure mine was a waste of time. I'd already accepted an offer on my house before it was done.The buyer is a cash buyer who has only seen the house twice and didn't bother with any sort of survey or valuation, so I doubt they paid too much attention to the EPC.

ka7e

I've just looked mine up and I'm shocked. We had an EPC done via our energy provider to see if we qualified for a new boiler and the inspector has gone to town to prove that we did! The report is full of errors.

He has stated that he "assumes" there is no roof insulation, when both the attic floor and eaves have built-in insulation. No double-glazing, when we have 50% DG (all bedrooms).

We are rated as F29 and our 3 year costs for energy are quoted as £7947 when he had access to our bills (before new condensing boiler was fitted), which showed our costs were £4500.

We'll definitely have to get a new EPC done if we want to sell in the future. The existing DG and new boiler and thicker hot water cylinder jacket take us up to E47. No idea about the roof insulation - it states it "would" save 1634KWh per year.

MadelinesMum

I check the EPC when looking on rightmove etc... If it is not too good then the place could need work, which would then affect the offering price. If it needs a new boiler, windows, insulation and so on, that all costs money.

captainhindsight_2

jonnyb1978 wrote: »

In response to your first line.
It's a lot to do with it as you quoted yourself you will not be able to unreasonably refuse the recommendations. Which if you refuse will probably be a cost issue which make the recommendation garbage.

Read the document 're this before using extreme examples that don't apply to justify your point.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/private-rented-sector-energy-efficiency-regulations-domestic

jonnyb1978

captainhindsight wrote: »

Read the document 're this before using extreme examples that don't apply to justify your point.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/private-rented-sector-energy-efficiency-regulations-domestic

My point? What was my point, as all I said was good luck with installing solar water heaters after previously stating an example of one energy saving recommendation.
It is very clear that the majority on here and elsewhere do not hold these certificates with high regard due to their high variations and total inaccuracies experienced on them.

captainhindsight_2

jonnyb1978 wrote: »

My point? What was my point, as all I said was good luck with installing solar water heaters after previously stating an example of one energy saving recommendation.
It is very clear that the majority on here and elsewhere do not hold these certificates with high regard due to their high variations and total inaccuracies experienced on them.

People dont value then because they are not aware of the benefits they can bring by paying attention to them.

This being a money saving site people should be paying attention to them.

It doesn't matter how accurate they are, when I look at them if it says solid wall insulation I just think great I can replaster the whole inside for free. Boiler recommendation, put a tenant on the right benefits in get a free boiler and so on.