EPC Ratings - accuracy of, and how to improve rating

etwickenham

Hello!  Just getting started on MSE.  Have had an offer accepted on a flat with an EPC rating of F.  I understand that rental properties need to be at least an E rating currently, increasing to a C rating by 2025?  One flat in the block somehow has a B rating...all of the others are D, E or F.  Two flats refer to Mains Gas in the report, however I find it difficult to believe that two flats have gas and 11 don't.  Wouldn't it be the case of all or nothing?  In which case, are the EPCs incorrect and too favourable in the case of those two flats?  Would love to understand more about how this works.  It feels verging on fraudulent that an EPC could be so wrong!  Favourable for the landlord...terrible for the tenant.

My EPC report has all of the usual recommendations of how to improve the energy efficiency.  Some are building related, so outside of the control of individual flat owners presumably and would need to be negotiated with the management company eg flat roof insulation and cavity wall insulation.  One area that I can control is the heating.  The recommendation is the installation of High Heat Retention Storage Heaters.  The existing electric radiators are Rointe and I have read a few threads raging about this company, and in one case someone mentioning that their EPC rating was DOWNGRADED after they installed Rointe.  So my question is what can I install that would improve my EPC rating, and how would I know what difference it would make to my EPC rating before I splash the cash?

Grateful for any replies!

[Deleted User]

EPC assessors use a database prepared by the Buildings Research Establishment. It is very much a box ticking exercise.

https://www.thegreenage.co.uk/top-10-tips-improving-domestic-epc-rating/

For completeness I should have added that if a specific item isn’t included in the BRE database, then the assessment defaults to a generic points value. For example, I had Honeywell Evohome smart heating controls installed in my previous home. As Honeywell had not allowed/asked BRE to confirm their energy savings claims, then the EPC heating for heating controls defaulted to a two zoned home with standard TRVs.

Rodders53

The EPCs are publicly available, along with earlier/expired ones.
So look and see what your neighbours have that is so much different.

They all include recommendation for improvements.  Some may be do-able with/without freeholder and/or managing agents cooperation...

Sometimes think EPCs are randomly input by unskilled barely trained assessors.

We live on a small development of 6 homes, built around 2008/9 and have EPCs ranging from D to B with the two on B maybe due to solar water and electric respectively?  The D EPC reckons it's electric room heating when it is (as all 6 are) oil fired central heating (underfloor on the ground floors).

etwickenham

Thanks Rodders53 - it seems scandalous for the reports to be so wrong and homeowners either to be penalised for a lower rating when they should be higher or to conversely 'get away with it' if they get a favourable report that is wrong, and consequently don't make the necessary improvements...particularly if tenants then end up carrying the can with higher energy bills.

etwickenham

Thanks for the link, Dolor!

FreeBear

Here's one for you. Claims to be "Timber frame, as built, insulated (assumed)".

Has an EPC rating of C(72).

It is in fact, brick construction throughout, cavity on the lower half, solid brick on the upper half. At best, it should have a rating of a low E. Suffers from cold & damp.

matelodave

I've had several EPC's done over the past few years and TBH I think they are a total waste of time, money and effort. They seem to be carried out by people who dont have a clue feeding info into a suspect software package which churns out a pretty coloured form.

On each occasion I've had one done I've had to steer the "assessor" in the right direction where the boxes to be ticked dont actually reflect the situation.

Even our last one which was done after we'd taken out storage heating, put 300mm+ insulation in the loft, installed underfloor heating and an air source heatpump only managed to get the place up from a G to a D. We've also got double glazng and cavity wall insulation so to get it to a C would start to add silly costs with minimal benefit (and several of the suggestion were impractical or impossible to implement)

etwickenham

Thanks FreeBear and matelodave...I find this scandalous!  I need to know that I could get my prospective flat up to an E on exchange and eventually a C, but the means to get there feel arbitrary at best...which makes it quite difficult to know what to do.

Fyne

I agree with matelodave, waste of time and money. The EPC when we bought our bungalow 3 years ago was F potential C. Just received a new one from the same company and it is now D potential B, no changes made. Happy enough as we are selling !!