False EPC discovered during purchase

brighteye295

Hi there

We are in the process of buying a house and are about 6 weeks in. On the advert provided by the estate agent, the EPC was rated as a C (great hey!) but now, after valuation, surveys, searches blah blah blah, we are in receipt of the official EPC certificate. The property is, in fact, rated E!

This is an estimated difference of around 1800 in bills over three years. Obviously we are feeling a little misled, and although a rating of E would not have deterred us from purchasing the property, it may have affected our offer price.

Just wondering what your thoughts on where our rights are with this? And what we should do next?

marksoton

EPC = Extremely pointless consideration.

Ignore.

theartfullodger

Since mother Theresa has kindly provided a public register, free to all, of all EPCs
https://www.epcregister.com/
- should you perhaps wonder why none of you (you mention "we"..) bothered to tap a few keys on the old PC & find the answer yourself, in seconds?

Caveat Emptor.

But, that someone fraudulently misled you, gorra be a criminal offence (Fraud Act 2006)..
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2

Sue the b&st*rds...

brighteye295

Didn't know about the availability of EPCs until today! And if I did, it probably wouldn't have occurred to me to check that the agent had accurately represented it. Same as i haven't been and measured the room dimensions myself etc.

marksoton

brighteye295 wrote: »

Didn't know about the availability of EPCs until today! And if I did, it probably wouldn't have occurred to me to check that the agent had accurately represented it. Same as i haven't been and measured the room dimensions myself etc.

My 12 year old could write an EPC.

As said, Ignore it.

Davesnave

I wouldn't ignore an EPC if it's as low as E, since that represents a house that will be more expensive in energy costs over the longer term.

However, I'd want to know how accurate 'E' is, because some EPCs I've seen have not made much sense, or have deviated from what I'd expect by a substantial amount.
Even at the end of further investigation, it might still be that I'd want the house and be prepared to accept the cost implications.

For example, I probably wouldn't wish to insulate a rubble-walled Welsh farmhouse; I'd prefer to leave the walls au naturel, because they're part & parcel of owning that type of property.

Sedge123

They're not worth the paper they are printed on, the person that did ours walkedround for 5 minutes and that was it- didn't look at even basic things like loft insulation.

G_M

Why are you wasting your time looking at the EPC, far less actually querying it, when you could be doing far more worthwhile things with your time.

Like reading through the survey in detail, which will describe the property far more usefully, and accurately.

Or ringing the surveyor for a follow-up chat, since he'll say far more than he'll write.

Or looking round the property yourself, with eyes less on the colour scheme and more on the condition. (did you even look in the attic?).

EPCs are not worth the electronic paper they are written on.

martindow

It wasn't really a false EPC was it? The agent's details gave the wrong rating. At the bottom of their details there will be a disclaimer regarding any errors and the onus is on the buyer to check room sizes, council tax bands, EPC ratings or anything else written there.

C_Mababejive

marksoton wrote: »

EPC = Extremely pointless consideration.

Ignore.

I agree to an extent. You must do your own assessment. EPC assessors were being produced from production lines in training establishments years ago. Just pay the money ,attend a bit of a course, get your cert,,get a job, make money. Unfortunately this is like a lot of training these days.

CBeardsworth

E is quite low. The summary section should give you an idea of easy fixes (loft insulation, energy efficient light bulbs etc). Anything that says assumed will have been input by the software based on wall thickness measurements or year of build. Most things you will be able to see for yourself.

The EA should not have given an incorrect rating on the advert but if you were taking so much notice of a simple C,D or E then you probably should have asked for the actual EPC.