EPC – Improvement advice for 2025 please?

Reply to the comment left by Landlord DEA at 26/01/2022 - 19:54
"There is a reason why some recommendations do not appear on the EPC. It's about the process built in to the system."

Then it's about time the system was changed - it is totally unreasonable to only tell half the story. We all need to be able to understand exactly how the assessment works and given enough information to make a simple cost/benefit judgment.

I am still aghast at the insistence on ignoring anything that cannot be easily seen. Where is the sense in a property being marked down because the underfloor insulation is hidden by the floor and the report telling me to spend £5000 on installing something that is already there? It is total lunacy.

The first part of the EPC action plan says:

"The actions were designed to deliver:

1. An EPC system that produces accurate, reliable, and trusted EPCs
2. An EPC that engages consumers and supports policies to drive action

Actions delivered to date include updating EPCs to include current information about government policy which relies on an EPC rating; a new format for the EPC which presents the most important EPC information upfront whilst allowing interested consumers to drill down into further levels of detailed information where relevant;"

Where is the evidence of delivery of the option to "drill down" etc?

They still have along way to go to achieve their first objective. At the moment EPCs are certainly not "accurate, reliable, and trusted ".

Reply to the comment left by Landlord DEA at 26/01/2022 - 19:54
This looks like a solution to my problem and yes I completely understand if you can same me time and a lot of money by pointing to other options to increase the EPC rating by other ways not mentioned on the (poorly currently prescribed) EPC BEFORE a new one is formally undertaken, then that would be great. Currently looking to see if I can find something similar that covers the same on a small commercial unit in the Devon region.... anyone out there help with a DEA contact that can do this??
Just out of curiosity, Do you take the current EPC that was done in 2012 and run it through the latest algorthym to see where it would come out first to understand where its rating would be now if freshly assessed, BEFORE prescribe things to get it to the different EPC ratings as defined now OR do you assume the EPC to be at it is now (say an E) and give examples of what to do to get it to the ratings C or above BUT only then run it against the new algorthym (which would have been updated since 2012). The reason I ask is that there could be two different outcomes here. Sounds like I am being pedantic, but I just want to be completely sure.

Talking to a colleague today, who has just had an ASHP replace an oil boiler, he explained the concept of degree days. Now this is above my pay grade but IF an EPC is viable it COULD be checked in practice.

To quote the summary
“Further information for beginners

We suggest you start with our introduction to degree days – it's a nice, easy-going explanation of degree days and what they're used for.

Following that we suggest you work through our recommended articles on degree days and how to use them effectively. These are aimed more at energy-saving professionals than beginners, so you might find them a little heavy going, but they do try to explain the basics as they go along. If you can set aside the time to work through them slowly, they should give you a lot of useful practical information on how to use degree days in your energy data analysis.

If you're enthusiastic about energy in general, you might also be interested in the information we've compiled about energy-related degree programs and courses. It's something of a work in progress, but we already have a lot of interesting-looking academic courses listed.”

https://www.degreedays.net/

Reply to the comment left by Chris Byways at 27/01/2022 - 19:31
probably extremely informative and I'd love to dedicate the time to look a all of this..but....at the end of the day I am a mere LL trying to make headway into trying to determine what a deluded schizophrenic government are planning to initiate which will ultimately determine the pure viability of....

simply providing a home to another human being.

As an EPC Assessor I would recommend to ask your Assessor to run through his software the different scenarios to achieve a ‘C’ rating and you will get 100% accuracy.
It will save you time and money, it should not cost very much extra.
PS: the recommendations that are as standard with an EPC are a blunder bust approach you may not need some of them.

Reply to the comment left by Alan Griffin at 27/01/2022 - 21:26
That sounds like the best idea yet.

Reply to the comment left by Alan Griffin at 27/01/2022 - 21:26
Well, well, well that's exactly what I said on 19th. Jan. except not in so many technical phases as I'm a mere Landlord. I advise everyone to get an EPC done shortly even if it's not quite due, and work from there without considering all these grandiose schemes. After all, all Landlords want, at least in the first instance, is to satisfy an EPC inspector their properties are worth a C grade.

With the caveat perhaps Yvonne that the EPC grade could go backwards if there are fewer assumptions.

Reply to the comment left by Si BB at 19/01/2022 - 14:25
Totally agree have done just this specification and moved four houses from 2 x D and 2 x E to all C

One of the E's had storage heating which I replaced with a combi boiler and the other E needed the 10 year old + boiler replaced.

What I would say and no one talks about spoke to local agent and money I invested would come back in bucket loads if refinancing or selling as the market are looking for C rated properties. Clearly landlords to lazy to do for themselves.

Reply to the comment left by PGoll at 08/02/2022 - 13:00I think we all know that landlords are unlikely to purchase properties that do not meet the required EPC standard but there was a report in the press the other day saying that the whole rating process is still under review. At the moment the rating is based upon the estimated cost of heating the property which is why gas scores so much better than electricity but this is likely to change as gas becomes relatively more expensive, especially as they have suddenly realised that installing a heat pump is likely to worsen the EPC rating rather than improve it.
I dread to think what the revised regulations will look like when they are eventually published but at the risk of repeating myself let me say that in my view it is a brave landlord who will spend any significant amount of money on improvements before government have shown their hand.