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Home Buyers, Sellers & Tenants Guide to EPCs

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

The EPC is a compulsory document included in a Home Information Pack (HIP). Anyone putting up a home for sale will need to commission a HIP which must include and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) based on the energy assessment of their home.

The Government is introducing Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to give consumers information about the energy efficiency of a home they are considering buying.

Landlords Guide to EPCs

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

You need to provide an EPC whenever a home in the social or private rented sector is let to a new tenant.

You must make the EPC available free of charge to prospective tenants at the earliest opportunity. This should be when they are first given written information about the property or view it, and before any rental contract is entered into.

EPCs are valid for 10 years and can be reused as many times as required within that period. It is not necessary to commission a new EPC each time there is a change of tenant although landlords may commission EPCs for these properties at any time to prepare for a change in tenant. If a newer EPC has been produced for a home within the ten year period, only the most recent one is valid.

The EPC provides prospective tenants with information about how energy efficient a property is that they are considering renting.

An EPC is not required for any property that was occupied before 1 October 2008 and which continues to be occupied after that date by the same tenant.

Reducing Business Energy Usage

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

Buildings account for almost half of the energy consumption and carbon emissions in the UK.

The heating and hot water used in your building can amount to half of all your energy costs. Most businesses have rising energy costs. If you use energy efficiently in your business, you can save money, save energy, stay competitive and reduce carbon emissions from your building.

The attached booklet gives businesses advice on heating and hot water systems and their controls. It covers:
• Boilers
• Space Heating systems
• Water heaters and hot water systems.

Practical Refurbishment of Solid Walled Houses

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

This guide offers practical guidance on the most appropriate methods for the energy efficient refurbishment of solid-walled houses. Performance targets as well as installation details are provided for floors, walls, windows, doors and roofs. Additional issues such as draughtstripping and wider environmental considerations are also considered.

A Guide to Display Energy Certificates

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

The attached guide describes the obligations that come into force on 1 October 2008 for public authorities and institutions providing public services to a large number of people that occupy buildings (or parts of buildings that have been designed or altered to be used separately) where the total useful floor area of the building (or part that has been designed or altered to be used separately) exceeds 1000m2 and which is frequently visited by the public.

Read more in the PDF below.

Commercial heating checklist

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

This straight forward checklist will help you carry out a basic energy efficiency survey of your commercial property. Use it to assess whether you should upgrade any of your systems.

Reducing the Energy Usage of Air Conditioning Systems

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

The main things that affect the energy efficiency of your air conditioning system are:
• The energy efficiency of your air conditioning equipment
• Whether your air conditioning system has been regularly maintained
• How your air conditioning system is controlled and operated

Read more in the attached PDF document.

Introduction to Commercial EPCs

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is intended to inform potential
buyers or tenants about the energy performance of a building, so they can
consider energy efficiency as part of their investment or business decision to
buy or occupy that building.

Why do commercial EPCs cost so much more than domestic ones?

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

OK, so you can get an EPC for your house for £70-£100.

So why are you being quoted so much for an EPC for your office? Anything from £300 up to £2000!!

Well, commercial properties are much more varied and complex. The survey could take a whole week and could need a team of assessors!

When you ask us for a quote, the first thing we'll ask you for is the approximate total floor area of the commercial property. From this we'll be able to work out roughly how long the survey and the EPC creation will take.

Our assessors need to examine the heating & hot water systems and controls, air conditioning units, lighting and controls, the building construction, insulation. Each area of the building will need to be surveyed, the floor areas and windows all need to be measured as well as the floor heights. So it really does help if you have scale floor plans available for your building.

All of this data then needs to be input into the EPC software (Simplified Building Energy Model SBEM). In order to do this, each floor of the building is drawn to scale on a CAD system. The areas of the building are then 'zoned' and their characteristics are defined. These zones are then individually inserted into the software to build up a complete 'picture' of the building's construction.

This whole process could take anything from 3 hours for a small, simple commercial property, right up to a week for a highly complex, large building.

So you can see that Commercial EPCs are not as straight forward as their Domestic counterparts. Therefore, there can be no set fee for a Commercial EPC, each one must be quoted individually.

What if I don't have a commercial EPC when I should?

62 — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

Building control and trading standards divisions of local authorities are responsible for ensuring that, when required, buildings have an Energy Performance Certificate.

The penalty for failing to make an EPC available to any prospective buyer or tenant when selling or letting non-dwellings is fixed, in most cases, at 12.5% or the rateable value of the building, subject to a minimum penalty of £500 and a maximum of £5,000. There is a default penalty of £750 where the formula cannot be applied. A formula is used as the costs of producing an EPC for non-dwellings are expected to vary according to the size, complexity and use of the building. The EPC will still be required.