An Energy Performance Certificate, or EPC for short, is one of the many pieces of paperwork that you’ll need when selling or letting out a property (if you’re selling, check out our handy list to make sure you have the rest covered too).
It tells a potential buyer or renter how energy efficient your house is, and rates this on an alphabetic scale – from G (lowest; very inefficient) to A (highest; very efficient).
It’ll cost you a bit of money to get an EPC for your property. But how much is a bit? Naturally, you don’t want to spend hours trawling through various price comparison sites, so we thought we’d do that for you – and give you the information you need on why EPCs matter, where to get one, and what constitutes a fair price.
So why do I need an EPC?
It’s a legal requirement, plain and simple. You must have an EPC before you put your property on the market, whether that’s for sale or to let. As a landlord, you’ll have to provide the document to prospective and approved tenants at the earliest opportunity too, and all adverts for the letting of a property must include your EPC rating of G-A.
Is it really that important?
Yes. Since May 2010, it’s been compulsory to have an EPC whether you are selling a property or letting it out. Indeed, as of April 2018, you can only rent out a property to a new tenant if it has an EPC rating of E or above, and the fines for not having this necessary documentation in place (in other words, breaking the law) can be substantial.
Heads up: legislation for landlords renting out properties will be changing again soon, so please make sure you’re up to date with the new laws (which come into effect on April 1st 2020) – to see whether you EPC remains valid and if/when you’ll need to update it.
So, it’s clear that you need to get an EPC, but where do you get one? And who should you choose to sort it, the estate agent you are selling or letting out the house through? Or do you go for an independent site? Here’s our verdict on the best course of action…
You may have a valid EPC already…
If the house has been sold or let out within the past 10 years, there’s a chance that your EPC might still be valid. You can go on to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government website and click on the Retrieve an Energy Performance Certificate button. From there, accept the terms and enter your postcode, and it should bring up nearby addresses. If yours is there, it should bring up the associated EPC. Check when it’s valid from and to, and if it’s between these dates then you should already be covered.
But remember, legislation for landlords letting out properties has changed. You now need an EPC rating of at least E to rent out to any new or renewing tenants, which might mean you need to update both your property and your EPC if you fail to meet that minimum. And soon (1st April 2020), these restrictions will also apply to continuing residential tenancies, so make sure you’re aware of the latest laws and act accordingly.
Costings
If you do need to renew your EPC, how much can you expect to pay for a new one?
Firstly, let’s take a look at some third-party assessors whom you’ll deal with directly.
We tested a few of these companies back in 2018, and we quickly found that promises of ultra-low EPC prices were sometimes a bit misleading. For example, one website claimed to offer EPCs from £30, but when we entered data for various areas around the country (a two-bedroom city flat at £200,000 and a suburban four-bedroom house at £430,000), the final price came out to be considerably higher.
It’s also important to note that without an EPC, you cannot even market your property, so you may need to wait for these third-party companies to finish evaluating other properties before they will do yours – losing you valuable time with their hold ups. If you do decide to go down the third-party assessors route, then we recommend you double check that the site you’re dealing with is on the EPC register, approving them as legit.
If you’re happier going down the tried-and-tested, old-fashioned route by purchasing an EPC through an estate agent, expect to pay anywhere between £75 and £120. On the plus side though, these assessors will be tied to the agent in some way, so they will understand the need (and are incentivised) to progress quickly. As a result, they may move more quickly than your third party sites, even if it may cost you a little more.
If you want to get the ball rolling with your property as fast as possible, and you don’t have an EPC yet, it’s usually a good idea to play it safe and go through your estate agent – which should ensure you get on the market quickly and fairly inexpensively.
