If only the answer were as simple as the question. Currently
if you are a landlord and intend to rent out your property, the
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
is good for ten years. This isn’t quite the case
for someone trying to sell their property. In fact if they don’t sell it sooner their
EPC is only good for three years before a new one is required. So there is a somewhat confusing disparity there already.
One question which promptly springs to mind is “What happens if you want to rent your property out whilst looking for a buyer?”
In an effort to make things simpler, Grant Shapps, the Conservative shadow housing minister has announced his intentions to make all EPCs last for ten years should they win the next election.
However, there is a fly in the ointment. Paul Walker, of the Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors has cast doubt on the accuracy of EPCs after the underlying software used to calculate them has been through a number of upgrades, allegedly to give improved results.
Walker explained that the original software, approved by the Government, made use of many inbuilt default values and assumptions. In September 2008, the software was updated, changing some of the defaults and allowing inspectors to record features that were actually there instead of relying on the defaults. A further software update last month means that a set of radiator controls which had previously been given an average score would now achieve a good one.
In one example quoted by Walker, an Energy Assessesment carried out on a property in 2007 produced a rating of 65 which placed the property in Band D. However a newer EPC produced for the same unaltered property using the upgraded software gave a higher (and more accurate) rating of 75 which lifted the property into Band C. So whilst the original EPC may still be valid it isn’t reflecting the true energy performance of the property when compared against other properties which may have come on the market more recently.
Furthermore, Walker pointed out that EPCs contain a table showing projected costs of heating and lighting together with savings that could be made by carrying out the improvements suggested in its list of recommendations. Fuel prices are built into the software and updated every six months. “Again,” says Walker, “this means that an EPC certificate a year or more old is out of date.”
The growing discrepancies mean that two identical properties, side by side, will have different ratings, depending on when their EPCs were produced.
On behalf of IDEA, Walker has now written to shadow housing minister Grant Shapps, challenging him over the Tories’ intention to allow EPC assesstments to be up to ten years old when properties are put up for sale.
The situation isn’t likely to change as more upgrades are already planned for 2010. With more buyers and tenants beginning to take an interest in Energy Performance Certificates and the potential knock-on effect of a ‘poor’ score when compared to other similar properties, it may be that a ten-year shelf life may be irrelevant as vendors and landlords feel that they need to regularly re-commission a new EPC in order to present their property in the best possible light. Something that no-one intended when they first set out to help buyers and tenants understand the impact that their new home will have on the planet and their pockets and something that will make the already unpopular EPC even more so.
domestic energy assessors
