EPC clearly wrong so can Assessor be made to change it once issued?

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 05/11/2022 - 12:39
So you are saying that all Energy Assessors are "Incompetent and Arrogant" - whose invoices should not be paid if the EPC doesn't say what you want it to say. ... And you accuse the Assessors of arrogance?

It's quite simple. If there is no evidence (either documentary, photographic or physical) that a particular measure has been installed, then the assessor is NOT ALLOWED TO INCLUDE IT. EPC's are subject to audit by the assessor's accreditation body and if a survey fails an audit, the EPC has to be re-issued at the assessor's expense. Multiple audit fails WILL result in the assessor being suspended and/or barred from working.

Most assessors will these days want payment for an EPC before it is issued, in order to defend themselves from people like you.

If ever there was a case for "not shooting the messenger", then this is it.

Thanks Ian, important thing to remember is with internal insulation not only it works out cheaper to implement as there is no cost of scaffolding to hire,
and so you are only heating the air space in your room and perhaps a 12 - 15mm thick layer of plaster board and skim. The heat loss is tiny and so the room will require very little heat to reach a comfortable temperature that will also hold for long before it needs topping up. Carpeted floors help retain heat with thick underlayer, double glazed windows help but heavy and thick curtains can slow that heat loss further.

As far as External Wall Insulation is concerned, I have spoken to many contractors carrying out this work, under the Governments grant which is only available to those who are on benefits, and for people like us who have paid taxes all our lives and have not claimed any benefits no one is interested.

I also found out when I asked a couple of contractors to give me a quote, they never bothered to even phone back, because the main reason is they can rip off the Government for twice as much profit if they were to do that job for a cash paying customer, it is similar to car body repairers who I once approached to have my car resprayed and they said they rather not do any cash jobs as the money is tight and they happily do only insurance work as no questions are asked once they submit their estimate or quote. I have been quoted a wide range of price for external wall insulation from £7500 to all the way £15,000, so that does not make sense.

There is a company who supply a complete kit of insulation boards and all the beads and blobs, mesh, and silicone paints, they even have very helpful videos, just type on YouTube External Wall Insulation and you will find this company as I am sure I am not allowed to mention them by name,

You can hire scaffolding and do this yourself if you posess basic DIY skills, nothing special about it, so i might be taking that route if I was going to do the external Insulation, however as I said its benefits are limited by if you having to heat the brick wall as well as the room, ifg the bricks are cold the room will go cold quickly, if the bricks are baked then the room will take a long way to get cold, but initially you will need to bake your bricks.

Reply to the comment left by Simon Holloway at 07/11/2022 - 12:44Damn it Simon, its only an assessment not a bank loan or a court case where you need evidence, if an owner says he had his cavity walls insulated 5 or 10 years earlier, his word has got to be taken in good trust, if an assessor insists on evidence he can damn bring his own tools and open a cavity to determine the truth, do you not think receipts and photographic evidence can be fabricated? we have the technology to do that readily, so what can be better than real evidence, get your tool kit and determine the truth, I can get anyone to issue me an invoice for insulation from any rogue builder.

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 07/11/2022 - 13:26
Yep - that's fine. If you want to provide false information to the assessor, then that's your prerogative. You might even get away with it. You may not know though, that there is a mechanism for assessors to report potential fraud etc to the authorities. The point is, if you decide to commit the fraud (and it is convincing enough) then the assessor cannot be held responsible and can keep their livelihood, because the assessment was done in good faith.

Some Assessors can and do carry borescopes in order to prove the existence of CWI where there are no drill holes visible. However, they often don't because they would need extra insurance to cover themselves in the event of a problem - and EPC rates are already ruinously low.

As regards EPC's only being "an assessment not a bank loan or a court case where you need evidence" - the EPC is a "legal document" and the Government has committed to using EPC's in a variety of ways in the future. For example, future grant schemes using taxpayers money to fund improvements will need EPCs to validate the applications. Would you want your tax dollar to be wasted because someone had based the source document on hearsay, with no evidence?

There is more to this than Landlord's trying to get their properties up to the prescribed rating.

I do sympathise with those landlords stuck with inefficient properties, however these rules and regs have been coming down the line for years, so shouldn't come as a surprise.

You got me wrong, no one suggested providing false information, rather that if one did carry out CWI and did not ask for receipt, there are many reasons for paying cash for a job, builders may offer you more discount, not getting a receipt means if things go wrong with the works, you cannot hold builders liable, so they may offer a little extra discount, so now if an assessor requires a receipt, there isn't one, if he totally insists upon then we have a problem, and owner is not providing false information, he is simply not able to produce a receipt, this should not come in the way of getting a true EPC rating.