Certificates & safety
What is an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)?
An EPC rates a property's energy efficiency from A to G and is required when a property is let or sold. Minimum energy efficiency standards restrict letting properties below a specified rating.
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<img src="https://propertyoptix.co.uk/glossary/epc/diagram.svg" alt="EPC — diagram from PropertyOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://propertyoptix.co.uk/glossary/epc">What is an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://propertyoptix.co.uk">PropertyOptix</a>
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</figure>It has to be available to prospective tenants at the point of marketing rather than produced at signing, and the rating must appear in advertising.
The minimum standard is the part with teeth. Letting a property below the permitted rating is an offence unless a valid exemption is registered, and exemptions have to be registered rather than simply relied upon.
The standards have been subject to repeated proposals to tighten them. A portfolio at the current minimum is at the current minimum, which is a different thing from being comfortably compliant.
What goes wrong in practice
- An exemption relied on without being registered, which does not work.
- Rating not shown in property advertising.
- Expiry dates untracked, with a certificate lapsing mid-tenancy.
- Improvement work planned around the current minimum with no view of proposed changes.