ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES – FAST, RELIABLE SERVICE, BRISTOL

When Selling Your Property

The government passed legislation that states anyone wishing to sell their property must have ordered or possess an EPC when the property goes on the market. Your estate agent is required to upload this EPC within 28 days of the sale’s commencement date. There is currently no minimum EPC rating required for the sale of a property, unlike if you intend to rent the property. An EPC is required for the transaction to be completed when selling - therefore, this includes transferring a property from a pension fund or passing property to your relatives, etc.

When Renting Your Property

If you plan to rent or lease your property, it’s essential to provide an EPC for prospective tenants to review. Since April 2018, UK legislation has made it illegal to let a property with an EPC rating lower than an ‘E’, unless a valid exemption has been registered. Failure to meet these requirements or respond to a Compliance Notice can result in penalties of up to £5,000 and possible publication of the breach. The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) regulations, therefore, play a significant role in shaping how landlords manage and maintain their property portfolios.

To conduct a standard residential EPC, we must attend the property in question; they cannot be done remotely. The EPC assessor will have to access all rooms – and the loft, if possible. You won’t be expected to lift any floorboards or carpets, though; it’s designed to be a brief, non-intrusive assessment of your home and completed in under 40 minutes. Therefore, if you have any measures that we will not be able to see whilst at the property, such as Suspended Floor Insulation, Wall (Cavity or External) Insulation, Loft Insulation or otherwise, we will require evidence of these for them to be included in our assessment. If the evidence is not provided, the software will make assumptions based on the age and construction of the property, which is estimated whilst on site. The assessor will need to take plenty of photos for the data submission and also measurements for the rooms, though this does not equate to a marketing floorplan (these can be ordered separately).