Hi everyone,
My wife and I are leaving in Glasgow in a flat that doesn’t keep the heat inside for shit. All windows are single glazed and you can feel the wind going through the side sometimes.
Earlier this year, someone came to renew the EPC rating (last one was in 2012) which makes sense as it is 10 years apart. However the guy only looked at 1/3 of the room of the property, and barely look into details at all.
By looking online, I found the previous one from 2012: it is stated that windows are double glazed and the rating is a C. However windows are definitely single glazed so I am wondering what else is wrong on this EPC rating.
The questions I have is:
– is it enough for the guy doing the EPC rating to get a good rating seeing 1/3 of the house?
– is it normal to have wrong EPC information in the report itself ?
– is the rating change from 2012 to 2022 ? Like if a flat is C in 2012, what is the rating in 2022? E ? I know stuff change gradually but for example I have a LED TV that was rated A but it is now a G based a the new rating
Thank you in advance!
4 comments
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EPC is a joke. I’m surprised the guy even came inside. However, there are laws about the minimum EPC rating a building must have if it is a rental property (both residential and commercial). It is normal for them to do a cursory tour of the property. The information should absolutely be correct, that, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, is the entire point.
Major scoring points include insulation and glazing but it cannot be an intrusive investigation so the insulation point is based on getting accurate information from the landlord.
The glazing issue is particularly concerning and suggests that the last people to do the EPC either never showed up to the building and simply issued a better-than-passing-grade, or purposefully lied at the behest of the landlord to prevent them raising a red flag and having to spend lots and lots of money installing double or secondary glazing throughout the block.
It would be a lot cheaper to pay off a bloke registered as an EPC examiner then install even a few new windows.
However, that last part is all pure speculation. I’m unsure which gov department or regulator owns the EPC programme but it could be DLUCH, BEIS or possibly the Environment Agency. Considering the cost of heat now, I’d strongly recommend you get in touch with the appropriate agency about this if you suspect there is an issue.
I believe all rented residential properties must now have a D rating or better, and this is set to climb to a C at some point soon.
I’m unsure if there have adjusted the thresholds in that time, but a quick google should bring up any consultation / policy change pages on gov.uk.
Hope this helps!
EPCs are very high level and I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt he only needed to see some of the house. They’re so cheap for residential it’s a numbers game. EPCs do change over time and yes a C in 2012 will be worse now. This reflects new technology improving the basis of achieving an A* having a cascade effect. Also the software created by the Government is tweaked over time to reflect attitude changes towards energy wastage. The most recent change for example has downgraded the effect of gas boilers versus electric in commercial property. They also vary wildly based on the assessors assumptions. Yours will probably be a D or an E, unless the property has been improved since the assessment was last undertaken.
Some EPCs are wrong. Mine has some very obvious differences on it (e.g. the house is listed as a bungalow, but it’s not) and we’ve asked if it’s possible to get it changed as we have no idea if the rating is still accurate. I’m not sure with mine whether it might possibly be a mixup with a different house done around the same time as there are a lot of not quite accurate things in there. I have also had a previous EPC with minor things that were incorrect but plausible (e.g. it said there was xyz insulation but we didn’t think that was true).