Epc rating

Hereforadvice

Could someone give me a idea of epc ratings and how they are worked out. 
I have a property that has loft insulation and partial wall insulation. The downstairs has been wall insulated but the upstairs has not been. The floor downstairs has not been insulated. 
I have wood frame single glazing and old style night storage heaters. My other concern is I have skylight windows upstairs so would these counteract the points collected by my loft insulation.
Im wondering how the epc rating is calculated. 

greatcrested

Depends on the inspector.

* he may look in the attic, or may just guess how deep the insulation is.Or may assume there is none

* he may spot the wall insulation, upstairs or down, or may not. Or may 'assume'

* he may not notice you don't have double glazing - who knows?

etc

Then he'll shove his guesses, assumptions, and ocassional flashes of inspiration into a laptop which will use a mysterious algorythm to determine an EPC, which will be pretty useless to you, your buyers, your tenants, or anyone else....

ProDave

They usually work on assumptions for the age of the property.

I know a bloke who did loads of improvements to his house, insulated all the walls, made the house pretty air tight and reduced his heating bills by loads.  when he came to sell it he gave the surveyor all the information on what insulation he had fitted and included photo's of the work, and the surveyor ignored it all and gave it the standard poor rating.  It made a mockery of the system.

Suseka97

The only recommendations we were given was that we should use low-energy lightbulbs, could consider a few more inches of loft insulation and maybe solar panels - which still resulted in a standard D rating.  So personally I don't see why EPCs are mandatory - as has been said, they are pretty useless and not something I pay much attention to when looking at buying my next home.

Scotbot

ProDave said:

They usually work on assumptions for the age of the property.

I know a bloke who did loads of improvements to his house, insulated all the walls, made the house pretty air tight and reduced his heating bills by loads.  when he came to sell it he gave the surveyor all the information on what insulation he had fitted and included photo's of the work, and the surveyor ignored it all and gave it the standard poor rating.  It made a mockery of the system.

I agree. I bought a 60s property with cavity wall insulation and insulated roof  I am amazed at how effective it is, it bears no relation to the EPC. Does anyone take any notice of them anyway?

eidand

Scotbot said:

ProDave said:

They usually work on assumptions for the age of the property.

I know a bloke who did loads of improvements to his house, insulated all the walls, made the house pretty air tight and reduced his heating bills by loads.  when he came to sell it he gave the surveyor all the information on what insulation he had fitted and included photo's of the work, and the surveyor ignored it all and gave it the standard poor rating.  It made a mockery of the system.

I agree. I bought a 60s property with cavity wall insulation and insulated roof  I am amazed at how effective it is, it bears no relation to the EPC. Does anyone take any notice of them anyway?

Not really. 
Mine says that I could add
- floor insulation at a cost of 4-6k so I can save £75 over 3 years ....
- solar water heating, 4-6k cost, for £81 savings over 3 years
If I do these things, my rating would go from D to C ( 63 to 78 )

I think I will ignore the advice ...

ProDave

I don't know why the surveyor cannot just look at a years worth of heating bills and work out from that, what the real cost of heating the house is.  That would be far more accurate than some guessed EPC.

Davesnave

I have had 3 EPCs, all pretty accurate, but it depends on:

who does it and their other/former employment

what the householder contributes in the way of useful input

the algorithm having a good day...

The idea of a pack describing the property accurately to potential buyers was a good one, but the EPC is just a vestige of that. It's so cheap consistency cannot possibly be monitored effectively. Like indemnity insurance, it's become just another bloody thing resolved with an inexpensive bit of paper.

greatcrested

Scotbot said:

ProDave said:

They usually work on assumptions for the age of the property.

I know a bloke who did loads of improvements to his house, insulated all the walls, made the house pretty air tight and reduced his heating bills by loads.  when he came to sell it he gave the surveyor all the information on what insulation he had fitted and included photo's of the work, and the surveyor ignored it all and gave it the standard poor rating.  It made a mockery of the system.

I agree. I bought a 60s property with cavity wall insulation and insulated roof  I am amazed at how effective it is, it bears no relation to the EPC. Does anyone take any notice of them anyway?

Unfortunately many FTBs do.

Davesnave

greatcrested said:

Scotbot said:

ProDave said:

They usually work on assumptions for the age of the property.

I know a bloke who did loads of improvements to his house, insulated all the walls, made the house pretty air tight and reduced his heating bills by loads.  when he came to sell it he gave the surveyor all the information on what insulation he had fitted and included photo's of the work, and the surveyor ignored it all and gave it the standard poor rating.  It made a mockery of the system.

I agree. I bought a 60s property with cavity wall insulation and insulated roof  I am amazed at how effective it is, it bears no relation to the EPC. Does anyone take any notice of them anyway?

Unfortunately many FTBs do.

Not a bad thing though, if it's, say, a  cottage with roses round the door and a score of 3. Might just give them pause for thought!

RelievedSheff

The EPC on our new house has been pretty accurate at estimating our annual running costs. The one done for our old property wasn't all that far out either.

Our old property was a Band D and our new one is a Band B and the difference in running costs is quite a lot less even though the new house is larger and detached. 

If we ever move again which we don't plan to do then we will definitely take notice of the EPC rating of the property we intend to buy.