Energy Performance Certificate - EPC Now Legal Requirement

A friend of mine recently put his home on the market and found that the estate agents were able to officially declare the house for sale until an energy performance certificate or EPC had been provided for the house.

Much like their home information pack cousins the energy performance certificate has become a legal requirement. Since October 2008, whenever a building is built, sold or rented out the energy performance certificate has become a legal prerequisite.

There is a sliding scale in operation that rates building according to their energy efficiency. This scale runs from A to G with a home rating at A being the most efficient and of course G being the least energy efficient. British homes have recently been averaging an energy efficiency rating of D.

The EPC should now be provided by Accredited Energy Assessors, along with a detailed report explaining what can be done in a property to make it more energy efficient.

Generally there are two main types of energy performance certificate. A Commercial Energy Performance Certificate and the more common one when selling homes, is the Domestic or Residential Energy Performance Certificate. A Display Energy Certificate is a third that is used.

A brief outline of each certificate is detailed below.

Domestic or Residential Energy Performance Certificate

• Now required by law for homes bought, homes sold or homes let
• The residential energy performance certificate is valid for 10 years and can be reused within that period
• EPC to be commissioned by landlords – Landlords EPC
• Applicants must be permitted to inspect the EPC
• A free copy should be provided to a tenant prior to agreement.

The Commercial Energy Performance Certificate

• Very similar to a residential energy performance certificate
• Usually a non residential building need a Commercial EPC when built, sold or let
• Some buildings also fall into other criteria which would require a Display Energy Certificate or DEC in addition.

The Display Energy Certificate

1. A different certificate to both residential and Commercial EPCs
2. The DEC is required to actually show the energy usage of a building
3. Only required for buildings with useful floor space of more than a thousand metres squared and occupied by public authorities or institutions that provide public services to a large volume of people, where those people are required to visit the building.
4. Certificate must be visible and displayed to the public
5. Only valid for one year but accompanied by an advisory report which details the measures that have been taken to improve the energy efficiency of the building. The advisory report is valid for 7 years.

With the world being forced to become more environmentally and energy conscious, it is clear to see the necessity of energy performance certificates and the role they will continue to play.

As my friend found out, you won’t be able to sell your house without these certificates in place so it is important to know what energy performance certificates are as they can have an impact on huge decisions in your life.