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To get an EPC, one has to contact an accredited assessor to visit and evaluate a property. After the assessment, the DEA will lodge the request for an EPC on the national register, together with the rating allotted to the particular property. All energy assessors are issued with identity cards which home-owners should ask for before their properties assessment is carried out. According to the English National Housing Survey, 98% of the housing stock could benefit from at least one of the energy efficiency improvements set out by the Energy Performance Certificate15. Around 28% of dwellings with cavity walls are not insulated, 24% of dwellings with lofts could benefit from loft insulation. Around 92% of solid wall homes (nearly 8 million properties) remain to be insulated. The Government’s aim is to reduce energy consumption. It is only a matter of time before business rates are linked to energy efficiency. EPCs are also compulsory. The energy performance certificate is an opportunity for you to improve you property’s marketability and value. The value of the property will have a direct correlation with how energy efficient it is in both letting and sales. During the marketing process for a building, the energy performance indicator must be included in all marketing material and the EPC made available to interested parties. Failure to comply with this may result in the building owner incurring a penalty charge. It is therefore recommended to commission an EPC at the earliest opportunity. Remember, if you are selling, renting or commissioning a new building you must have an EPC undertaken because if you don’t the penalties could be severe. Enforcement agencies have the power to investigate and request a copy of the EPC and the accompanying recommendations report. The responsible person has 7 days to produce this documentation upon request. Put simply, whenever a property is built, sold, or let you will need an EPC. You must have it before your property is listed and its rating must be included on any advertising, whether selling or letting. The full EPC though does not have to be shown. Just the rating. A, B, C and so on. It will be valid for 10 years but in that time may need be changed if improvements are made to the property.  The house or flat could be sold multiple times but if the EPC is still valid, it will not need a new one.



Included with an Energy Performance Certificate is the potential cost of undertaking these improvements as well as typical savings over a three year period. It also includes the estimated cost of heating, lighting and hot water after improvements are made. Additionally, it will show you total potential savings, and the EPC rating you might receive after making improvements to your home. Unlike a domestic EPC, obtaining a commercial EPC can be a lengthy process and could take several weeks. This is because commercial properties come in a wide range of sizes and shapes and different areas (basements, loading bays attics etc). This makes it more difficult for an EPC provider to assess. The certificate will include details of: construction, insulation types, the area of glazing and how each internal space is used, together with equipment used for ventilation, heating and air conditioning. Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) legislation has been in place since 2018 and now applies to all tenancies. And while there’s no stipulation on EPC ratings when selling your home, buyers pay close attention to EPCs and you may find it harder to sell if your rating is low. The ECO scheme is a government energy efficiency scheme in Great Britain. It provides funding for insulation measures to make your home more energy efficient. These insulation measures allow people to spend less on their energy bills. The addition of insulation can also help improve the EPC of your home. A well-thought-out strategy appertaining to  mees regulations can offer leaps and bounds in improvements.

Legal RequirementImplementing energy efficient technology and practices in your home can reduce your annual utility bill by anywhere from 5 to 30%. Essentially, your savings are the result of reduced energy demand: building owners can either directly reduce electricity use by installing more efficient appliances, or prevent unnecessary energy waste lost as heat through improving insulation. Although a commercial EPC indicates the energy efficiency of building fabric and the installed heating, ventilation, cooling and lighting systems (building services), it does not take into account how the present occupier uses these systems. This is planned with the roll-out of the commercial Green Deal (yet to be announced). Most commercial EPC assessors can provide Level 3, 4 and 5 Commercial EPC’s for existing and new buildings. Each certificate shows the current and previous two years energy rating and carbon emissions for comparison purposes. An advisory report (AR) based on a site survey accompanies the first DEC, and then is renewed every seven years thereafter (every ten years for buildings of 1000 m2 or less). There are a couple of reasons why you might choose to get a domestic EPC. The first is that you will need one if you are planning to sell your house. Prospective buyers may be more likely to make an offer if the property has a good rating. The other is that it gives you information about your property that can help you improve its efficiency and save you money on your bills. Improving energy efficiency is the best long term solution to tackling fuel poverty and is integral to achieving the fuel poverty target and interim milestones. The UK is making good progress here. There are 1.2 million fewer low-income households living in the least energy efficient homes (Band E, F or G) today compared to 2010. A solid understanding of non domestic epc register makes any related process simple and hassle free.

You can get domestic EPCs, commercial EPCs or display energy certificates, depending on the type of property being assessed. In England and Wales, EPCs were introduced in August 2007 to make sure prospective home buyers and sellers were aware of the energy efficiency of their properties. They evaluate the characteristics of a building to determine whether or not it is efficient in its energy usage. An EPC is not a safety measure of a building, but instead, an assessment of its energy efficiency. An EPC is only required for a habitable unit if it is self-contained. This is therefore different to the requirement for Decent Homes inspections, where units which are not self-contained must be individually assessed. Landlords should be aware of this when holding EPC and Decent Homes data in common asset management databases. The requirement for an EPC for buildings placed on the market for sale or rent came into force from August 2007 for domestic and October 2008 for commercial buildings. Newly constructed buildings require an EPC before completion can take place. There is a common misconception that an EPC is only mandatory when the property is placed ‘under offer’ but the regulations actually require that an EPC be in place from the first day the building is marketed. An EPC is valid for 10 years and is available for public view on the UK Government’s Landmark database. An EPC gives the property a number of points between 0-100, which equates to a rating between an A (highest) and a G (lowest). In 2018 the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) were brought in to prevent any properties rated lower than an E being rented out, however it is important to note that the MEES have no impact on properties being bought and sold. An EPC has been required for the construction, sale or letting of property, since 2008, but until recently it was just simply a tick box exercise as part of the transaction. However, now EPC and MEES have wider implications for commercial landlords and tenants than just energy efficiency, and not all EPCs are created equally (poor data in, low EPC out). Professional assistance in relation to commercial epc can make or break a commercial building project.

Help Save The PlanetOlder windows can be responsible for up to 30% of heat loss in your house. But, because they only cover a small surface area of your walls, installing double glazing has a smaller - though not insignificant - impact on your EPC rating than installing wall insulation. Going from single glazing to double glazing could add to your EPC rating by 5-10 points, but will cost about £250 to £400 per window. Triple glazed windows will deliver even more energy saving improvements. If you're renting or selling your premises, an existing EPC can be used where this is still valid. Otherwise a new EPC must be obtained. You can be fined up to £1,000 if you don't make an EPC available to any prospective buyer or tenant. EPCs are produced using standard information about buildings. This allows prospective buyers and tenants to easily see and compare the energy efficiency of all properties they are considering. It also shows them how much it may cost to heat and light a building before they enter into a contract. From October 2008, owners of all commercial buildings have to provide a Non-Domestic EPC when they Sell or Let commercial premises, these are also valid for 10 years. From April 2018 it became unlawful to Let or Sell a commercial building with an EPC Rating of ‘F’ or ‘G’, this also applies to Lease Renewals. The EPC register is the government’s online database containing every EPC in the UK. The register can be used in several ways. For example, using the register’s EPC retrieval page, you can search for a property’s energy performance certificate by postcode. This is useful for looking up your own certificate and also for finding the certificate of a property you are considering moving into. Its always best to consult the experts when considering  epc commercial property these days.

New homes, marketed off-plan (before they are built), will have had SAP* calculations completed, to show how they comply with the Building Regulations. Then, before a completion certificate can be issued, a full Energy Performance Certificate must be obtained by the person responsible for the construction. This type of EPC must be done by a qualified SAP Assessor and will probably be the person who carried out the calculations for the design. As from 1st October 2008 all Commercial Buildings over 50m² (see exemptions below) require a Non-Domestic Energy Performance Certificate. The purpose of the Non-Domestic EPC is to assess a buildings’ CO2 emissions in line with the requirements of Building Regulations (Part L). You can only get an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) from a commercial energy assessor. The type of assessor you’ll need will depend on the complexity and features of the building. If you need advice on choosing one, speak to a commercial (non-domestic) energy assessor or contact the approved accreditation scheme they belong to. If you want to improve your EPC rating, the EPC report provides a list of energy efficient ideas for your home that could help improve it. This includes estimated costs, savings and how much each measure could improve the EPC rating. They are shown in order of importance, and the benefits are based on making the improvements in the order they appear in the report. When a Commercial or Residential property is sold or rented, an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) must be raised for that property. The EPC  should be made available to a prospective buyer or tenant at the earliest opportunity and before a sale or let is agreed. If you are using an agent to sell or rent your property then the EPC must be raised before the agennt can advertise the property. When a property is for sale the EPC will form an integral part of the conveyance. Advising on matters such as mees will provide benefits in the long run.

Energy Ratings For BuildingsAll homes on sale or for rent must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) showing how energy efficient the property is. EPCs were introduced in 2007 and are valid for 10 years from the date of issue. You’re legally required to have one if you’re planning to sell your home or let out a property. Once issued, an Energy Performance Certificate is valid for 10 years. In that time, you can use the EPC multiple times for the same property if you wish to rent out to different tenants. After 10 years, the EPC has expired and you will need to follow the process again, to get a newly valid Energy Performance Certificate. As of the 1st August 2007, all domestic and commercial buildings in the UK available to buy or rent must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). If you own a home or a business, getting an energy performance survey done could help you identify was to save money on your energy bills and improve the comfort of your home or business. You can discover further details regarding Commercial EPC Assessors on this  UK Government Portal link.

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