Full EPC

Full EPC is an ethical, professional company. All information provided in this FAQ has been fully researched and is believed to be factual and without prejudice. If you disagree please contact us by e-mail or fill in our contact enquiry form.

I you have a question which you feel should have been included in this FAQ please let us know. We will give you an answer and consider it for inclusion in the list.

Please look at the information in the About EPCs section of this website.

If you are selling or renting a residential property then you will need to have an EPC. When selling you must have either a valid EPC or have ordered an EPC to be produced before you or an Agent can market a property. The EPC must be available within 28 days of the house first going on the market. When renting a property you must have a valid EPC available to show prospective tenants.

There is an initial fixed penalty of £200. Enforcement of these requirements is the responsibility of Trading Standards Officers. However if a property which is sold or rented continues to be without a valid EPC further penalties may be imposed.

The duty to provide an EPC falls on either the seller, in the case of a building being sold, or the landlord, in the case of a building being rented. In the case of new buildings the duty to provide an EPC falls on the builder.

Unfortunately like everything else in life you get what you pay for. The cost of an EPC depends on where you get it from and the size of your property. As a guide expect to pay upwards of £75 (including VAT). Because the sale of EPCs is unregulated it will always be possible to find EPC providers charging a lot less than this. One way of achieving this is to pay Domestic Energy Assessors a very low amount for their services. You need to make up your own mind what the implications of this are and if this is important to you. Full EPC believes in paying a fair rate to HIs & DEAs for your Energy Assessment as we believe this is the best way to maintain accuracy and quality.

Please also read the following two FAQ; ‘What are the possible consequences of an incorrect EPC?’ and ‘What’s involved in providing an EPC? (why not the cheapest)’

• If selling then an incorrect assessment may result in a report showing a higher energy cost and a lower potential/actual energy rating. To put it bluntly in the current ‘Buyers Market’ prospective purchasers may be put off buying your house especially if the rating for similar properties is significantly better.
• If renting you should provide the EPC in the pack you provide the prospective tenant. Prospective tenants may be put off renting your property if the Energy costs appear to be greater than that of similar properties

Here’s what’s involved for each Certificate;

• Arranging for a fully qualified Assessor to be at the property at a specific time
• The assessor may have to travel many miles and may take up to an hour or more each way to reach the property (especially in London or less populated areas)
• The Assessor needs to measure each room, check the construction, presence of extensions which may have a different construction, windows, heating and extent of insulation etc.
• A lodgement fee is paid to the company who runs the EPC database for the Government
• All the data collected during the assessment is entered into the database
• Finally a Certificate and Report is produced

All the above can take many hours, perhaps half a day in equivalent time. The Assessment must be carried out by qualified Domestic Energy Assessors or Home Inspectors. Think about other tradesmen who might come to your home such as plumbers and electricians and how much they might charge for similar hours. You will come across companies saying they can do all the above for as low as £20. The DEA qualification is a ‘level 3’ qualification requiring many hours of study, and exam and a portfolio to qualify (the Home Inspector is a higher ‘level 4’ qualification). I’ll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions as to how some companies and Assessors feel they can charge such low prices.

Estate Agents may be the most expensive source for your EPC. The reason is that the Agent may receive a Commission for each EPC.