Claim for inaccurate EPC

robinbetts

Hi all,

My wife and I bought a house in March. The EPC showed Band D(58) with potential to C(80), which we thought was quite good for the type of property (stone walled, barn conversion), and this was one of the factors in choosing this property over other similar construction properties that had much lower scores.

We've just had a Green Deal Assessment done in order to pursue replacing our LPG boiler with a wood pellet boiler using the RHI, and the new EPC has come out as an F(31)! According to the new assessor, the previous one was falsely so high because the property has been maked as "On mains gas", even though we're in a rural village location, where there isn't mains gas for miles. Apparently, the database of boilers in the EPC system doesn't list our model as LPG, so if you select it, it forces you to select "On mains gas" as well. Instead, the boiler should have been set as "unknown boiler, condensing, etc.".

I understand that small mistakes can be made, but this one has made a huge difference in the score (nearly 30 points and two bandings), and has doubled the estimated energy costs over 3 years from ~£5,000 to ~£10,000! That's a massive difference.

Our new assessor said that this error should be raised and that we should make a claim against it.

Does anyone know if this is something that could be claimed for, who would we make the claim to, and what could we realistically be claiming for? Obviously this could have changed which house we bought and could cost us ~£30,000 in heating bills over the next 20 years.

Thank you!

retepetsir

Surely you realised this when buying, especially if you had an LPG tank in the garden?! So you would have known that LPG was more expensive than piped gas. Did you base your sums on the EPC fuel estimates that are wildly inaccurate?

EPC's don't really mean anything. Ours was pretty inaccurate too but we checked everything ourselves and took it with a pinch of salt.

robinbetts

Obviously we knew that it was LPG and not mains gas, but we didn't know that the EPC had been constructed as if it was on mains gas, and we didn't know that that mistake would change the efficiency banding so drastically.

I know that there can be mistakes in the EPC, given that it's a non intrusive survey, but I don't think that should excuse blatant errors like this.

macman

You don't need an EPC to tell you that LPG is the single most expensive way of heating a property other than standard rate electricity.
You bought the property knowing that it had LPG. Surely you didn't depend on the EPC to assess the heating costs?

Andy_WSM

macman wrote: »

You don't need an EPC to tell you that LPG is the single most expensive way of heating a property other than standard rate electricity.
You bought the property knowing that it had LPG. Surely you didn't depend on the EPC to assess the heating costs?

Where there's blame, there's a claim!

Smiley_Dan

I think the OP is saying that he didn't realise the band was dependent on the availability of mains gas. He probably needs a certain band to qualify for better RHI payments.

This is true: AFAIK the algorithm is not open source. It should be.

Not sure what can be done but it's an interesting case. There are a lot of bad EPCs out there (many on these forums).

robinbetts

Indeed, we were aware that LPG is expensive, as well as oil, which are all that were available in most of the houses that we looked at in the area. The differentiating factor would therefore be how "energy efficient" the property is, and an accurate EPC should allow you to compare this, to a certain extent. However, this mistake has given the impression that this property was pretty efficient compared to other properties with similar energy sources. But in reality, it's the opposite.

Johnandabby

I don't normally agree with any compensation claims, but think you actually have a fair point here. It's a mandatory part of the EPC evidence collection to take a photo of the gas meter - the lack of it (and presence of LPG tanks) should have been a massive hint. And the boiler reference should have flagged this as well. It's not just a wrongly ticked box...

You would have to firstly contact the original assessor and make a complaint - it's a requirement for all assessors to have a complaints process. Assuming that you don't get a satisfactory response you can then contact their accreditation body - their name will be on the EPC together with the assessors accreditation number.

There was an interesting case a couple of years ago where both the EPC assessor and surveyor incorrectly noted double glazing on both their reports, and had to pay 50% each of the upgrade costs from single glazing to double glazing.

It's a mandatory requirement to have Professional Indemnity Insurance, so ultimately this is where any payout will be from.

robinbetts

Thanks for the response Johnandabby,

I have spoken to the assessor today and they were sure that they did everything to the book as it were, as our boiler apparently shows as been a mains gas boiler on the database, but apparently he was still able to specify that the property was not on mains gas. Even if that's the case, the calculations where still done as though it was on mains gas.

He's suggesting that it's a problem with the accreditation body and their software, but he said nothing about having to have a picture of the gas meter. He said that he would contact Stroma so I'm waiting to here what they say, otherwise I'll contact them myself.

Happy_Dayz

Don't be fobbed off by this guy. He has made a major blunder on this EPC which is purely down to incompetance on his part and absolutely nothing to do with the accreditation body or their software.

You should definetly persue a claim for compensation against the assessor's professional indemnity insurance as you have been misled and decieved by the EPC and you will suffer a financial loss as a result.

The EPB Regulations for EPCs states the follwing:
"The Energy Assessor has a duty of care under the EPB Regulations, both to the seller or prospective landlord and to the prospective buyer or tenant, to carry out an energy assessment on a building with reasonable care and skill. This duty is enforceable for as long as the EPC subsequently remains valid.

If an Energy Assessor is proven to have been in breach of his duty under the EPB Regulations or negligent in any other way, this is a matter that can be taken up in the first instance with the accreditation scheme before any recourse to an action in civil law. Energy Assessors will have professional indemnity cover against the eventuality that any person to whom they have a duty may suffer loss as a result of their actions."

Please keep us posted on how you get on.

Johnandabby

No, not a problem with the accreditation body or software. Sounds like the assessor just did the quickest option to complete the epc - they should have spoken with Stroma about how to enter the lpg boiler to give the correct annual costs etc. Too easy to rely on the gas code number only.

Give the assessor 1 week from whrn you contacted them to respond - if no response, or you're not happy with the response, then contact Stroma direct.