Energy Certificate - EPC Rating

ProDave

I would not personally now buy anything lower than a C. But them I am biased, currently owning a house with an EPC C and in the process of building a new one that I expect to get an A.

It is already not possible to let out a house with an EPC F in Scotland. I believe the same will come in England soon, and talk that by 2025 you will need an EPC C to let it. If so nobody would buy it in the future for rental, so that's a big chunk of buyers gone.

The EPC system was introduced to housing in much the same way as it was to white goods. You would now not buy a washing machine unless it has an energy rating A But people largely ignore the EPC when buying a house.

I suspect that is going to change soon, so that is the reason I would not want such a poor EPC, at some time in the future it may become harder to sell, or be worth less as buyers wake up to choosing one with a lower running cost, and it may be horendously expensive to upgrade it to significantly improve the EPC.

AdrianC

EPCs are a bunch of guff that bears no relationship to reality.

Our old house, the place we rented for a short while, and where we now live were all within one point of each other on the EPC score - all mid 30s.

Our old place was OK, but had single glazing in several rooms, and draughts coming through the gaps between the bare wooden living room floorboards.

The rented place was a converted barn with a massive single-glazed picture window in an open-plan mezzanine, and was bloody freezing - we got through £250 of mains gas in February, and the wind below through the gap where two barns were joined together.

This place was massively upgraded by the environmentalist previous owner a few years before we bought it, is insulated to the hilt, has solar hot water and, despite being on LPG rather than mains gas and nearly three times the size of our old place, is cheaper to heat than that first house. But the insulation can't be touched/sniffed/licked by the assessor and his tickboxes.

All within one point, remember...

When we were looking to buy here, one house we looked at had a world-record EPC score of 1 point. Yes, just ONE... And, yes, it did have a roof and windows...

ComicGeek

AdrianC wrote: »

This place was massively upgraded by the environmentalist previous owner a few years before we bought it, is insulated to the hilt, has solar hot water and, despite being on LPG rather than mains gas and nearly three times the size of our old place, is cheaper to heat than that first house. But the insulation can't be touched/sniffed/licked by the assessor and his tickboxes.

If the person upgrading the insulation had taken a few seconds to take photos of the insulation being installed, and kept invoices for the insulation, then the assessor could have included it. You need evidence otherwise everyone would just make it up. The only alternative without this evidence would be to expose the insulation again for the assessor to witness, which isn't practical.

The EPC calculation comes down to energy running costs - solar hot water doesn't make a significant saving in running costs, and LPG is much more expensive than LPG.

AdrianC

The people who did the work had died... Invoices were available, though.

And, yes, I know LPG is more expensive than mains - which is why I said it's still cheaper.

davidmcn

ProDave wrote: »

It is already not possible to let out a house with an EPC F in Scotland.

Not quite already. There's been a consultation proposing that it is phased in from 1 April 2019, but not yet (as far as I'm aware) any legislation. Consultation results published on 10 November: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/11/6863/1

ProDave

davidmcn wrote: »

Not quite already. There's been a consultation proposing that it is phased in from 1 April 2019, but not yet (as far as I'm aware) any legislation. Consultation results published on 10 November: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/11/6863/1

The point being if not already, then very soon, landlords will be offloading EPC F properties and no landlords will buy them so a smaller market.

I would not personally be buying one so poor, and if I had one would be looking to offload it before the glut.

To put this heating requirement into perspective, my total max whole house heating requirement will be 2.5Kw when it's +20 degrees inside and -10 degrees outside.

I would check the history of this house. Is it an ex rental that the landlord wants to offload?