An energy performance certificate, or EPC for short, is one of the many documents you need when selling or renting a home (if you sell, check out our handy list to make sure you have the rest). It tells a potential buyer or tenant how efficient their home is in terms of energy and assesses this on an alphabetical scale: from G (lowest; very inefficient) to A (highest; very efficient).
EPC Cost in UK you a little money to get an EPC for your property. But how much is a bit? Of course you don’t want to spend hours browsing through different price comparison sites, so we think we would do it for you and give you the information you need about why EPCs are important, where you can get one and what a fair price is.
So why do I need an EPC?
It is a legal requirement, clear and simple. You must have an EPC before you put your property on the market, either for sale or for rent. As a landlord, you must also provide the document to potential approved tenants as quickly as possible and all advertisements for renting a home must include your EPC rating from G-A.
Is it really that EPC Certificate important?
Yes. Since May 2010, it is mandatory to have an EPC, whether you are selling or letting a property. From April 2018 you can only rent a property to a new tenant if you have an EPC rating of E or higher and the fines for not having this required documentation (in other words, breaking the law) can be considerable. Please note that the legislation for owners renting properties will change again soon, so make sure you are aware of the new laws (coming into effect on April 1, 2020) to see if your EPC Certificate London is still valid and whether / when you need to update it
So of course you have to get an EPC Cost in UK, but where do you get it? And who should I choose to classify it, the broker who sells or leaves the house? Or are you going for an independent site? Here is our opinion on the best course of action.
You may already have a valid EPC Certificate
If the house has been sold or rented out in the last 10 years, there is a possibility that your EPC is still valid. You can go to the website of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and click on the Restore an energy efficiency certificate button. There you accept the conditions and enter your zip code. You must display nearby addresses. If yours is there, it must show the corresponding EPC. Check when it is valid from and to, and if it is between these dates, it should already be covered.
But do not forget that the legislation for homeowners renting out properties has changed. Now you need an EPC rating of at least E to rent to a new or renovating tenant, which may mean that you must update both your property and your EPC if you do not meet that minimum. And soon (April 1, 2020) these restrictions will also apply to continuing to rent out properties, so make sure you are up to date with the latest laws and act accordingly.
EPC Certificate Cost
If you need to renew your EPC, how much can you expect to pay for a new one?
First, let’s look at some external consultants that you deal with directly.
We tested some of these companies in 2018 and soon discovered that ultra-low EPC price promises were sometimes a bit misleading. For example, a website claimed to offer EPC from £ 30, but when we entered data for different areas across the country (a two-room city apartment for £ 200,000 and a four-bedroom suburban home for £ 430,000), the final price came To be considerably longer.
It is also important to remember that without EPC you cannot even put your property on the market, so you may have to wait for these external companies to finish evaluating other properties before they do their ownership, giving you a valuable time with your retention. If you decide to follow the path of the external advisers, we recommend that you re-check that the site you are using is in the EPC register and approves it as legitimate.
If you are happier to follow the proven and outdated route by buying an EPC through a broker, expect you to pay between £ 75 and £ 120. On the positive side, these advisers are somehow linked to the agent so that they understand the need (and are encouraged) to make rapid progress. As a result, they can move faster than third-party sites, even if it may cost a little more.
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