{"id":11753,"date":"2017-09-07T12:50:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T11:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/?p=11753"},"modified":"2025-05-28T07:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T06:45:09","slug":"epc-a-decade-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/landlords\/epc-a-decade-on\/","title":{"rendered":"EPC a decade on"},"content":{"rendered":"

In October 2008, the government introduced the\u00a0Energy Performance Certificate\u00a0(EPC<\/a>). It assessed a property\u2019s energy performance, rated it A-G (A being the most efficient, and G the least); suggested improvements and rated what its energy efficiency would be, based on these improvements. Every seller or landlord has to have an up-to-date EPC by law (unless they are resident in the property themselves, in a listed building or a place of worship).
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\nThe EPC was in response to the fact that domestic properties are the source of a quarter of the UK\u2019s total CO2 emissions. There was (and still is) a drive to improve the population\u2019s understanding of energy efficiency, whether that\u2019s changing the light bulbs or improving the loft insulation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten years on however, and change is coming. In April 2018, the government plans to introduce a <\/span>new Minimum Energy Efficient Standard (MEES) of rating E. This means any property in England and Wales must achieve an E rating before it can be rented or sold.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"CavityFor landlords this could prove problematic. Any major works such as replacing the windows or cavity wall insulation may have to be carried out between tenancies and the additional costs could be significant (the <\/span>RLA\u2019s research on Energy Efficiency<\/span><\/a> showed that one in four landlords have already spent an average of \u00a36,780 making energy efficiency improvements). The MEES is only eight months away which means contractors are going to receive a deluge of bookings and be unable to commit to them all. There are additional factors too: In the event of a tenant\u2019s death, the EPC rules are unclear because it is a new tenant (a spouse, partner or child of the agreed tenant that takes over the property) but not a new tenancy agreement; the current rating system isn\u2019t infallible \u2013 according to the Building Research Establishment (BRE) 100,000 properties with solid walls and uninsulated cavity walls have been incorrectly given F and G ratings – and the age of the property might make EPC improvements impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what can be done? If it is only new tenancies and renewals that require an up-to-date EPC and a minimum rating of E then landlords with long-term tenancies need not be too concerned (it won\u2019t be extended to cover all private tenancies until April 2020). This is true for regulated o<\/span>r assured tenancies too if they were set up before October 2008 as this <\/span>RLA case study<\/span><\/a> shows. After that date however, any new lettings or sales will have to conform to the EPC changes. If in doubt, it\u2019s a good idea to speak to one of our <\/span>property management experts<\/span> who will be able to advise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the issue of unreliable EPCs for properties with solid walls or uninsulated cavities, the\u00a0<\/span>Residential Landlords Association is waiting for the government\u2019s solution before advising its members. The RLA estimates that 34% of private rented sector properties were built before 1919 when cavity walls were introduced – that\u2019s 330,000 Victorian and Edwardian properties that are especially hard to insulate and likely to have an EPC of F or G. \u00a0The government is expected to release guidelines in October this year for landlords and sellers that take into account the age of the housing stock and what energy efficiency measures are possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the issue of cost; while the government has projected that landlords will spend no more than \u00a31,800 on improvements, <\/span>figures show<\/span><\/a> the real cost to be more than three times that. There are finance options available to UK-based landlords mainly in the form of \u2018Green Deal\u2019 loans which will need to be repaid with interest, but the idea is that the amount saved on the energy bills covers the cost of the improvements. It\u2019s worth mentioning that Council Tax might end up linked to the energy efficiency of a property too.<\/span><\/p>\n

One final but important point; <\/span>landlords who don\u2019t improve the energy efficiency of their properties will not only not be legally allowed to rent them but will also face penalty charges of up to \u00a34,000. So don\u2019t bury your head in the sand, come and talk to our experts and ensure your EPC is up to date and meets a rating of E or above for efficiency. Our professional <\/span>property management team<\/span> can help ensure your property complies with all legislation. For more information, call 0207 319 9740 or email <\/span>info@benhams.com.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In October 2008, the government introduced the\u00a0Energy Performance Certificate\u00a0(EPC). It assessed a property\u2019s energy performance, rated it A-G (A being the most efficient, and G the least); suggested improvements and rated what its energy efficiency would be, based on these improvements. Every seller or landlord has to have an up-to-date EPC by law (unless they … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “EPC a decade on”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[348,349,30,29],"class_list":["post-11753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landlords","tag-energy","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-energy-performance-certificates","tag-epc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11753"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25662,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11753\/revisions\/25662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}