Should landlords get an EPC now or wait for new regulations?

Reply to the comment left by Mark C at 16/10/2024 - 08:40
Mark C, I totally agree that EPC's are a waste of money, but we either tick a box and pay the money or we have to sell the house when the monkeys in charge change the rules.

I've had an assessor assume that there was only 50mm of loft insulation when there was 300mm because he couldn't be bothered to open the hatch and look.

Unfortunately I wasn't there when he visited and had to send him proof that there was 300mm of insulation there before he would change it.

I could have sent pictures and receipts for any house and he wouldn't have known the difference.

Some just look at others in the street and assume construction type, not surprising when you can do a 2 day course and become an EPC assessor.

The EPC calc methodology is changing in March. I'm no EPC buff but I gather it's changing like the commercial EPCs have.
Instead of continuing to tell landlords to install cheap to run gas appliances there will be a complete U turn. All our investment in gas would be for nothing.
This was expected though.
I have been investing in insulation only as this is by far the cheapest and reliable way of saving tenants pockets so that they can give more money to me instead of the energy supplier. It will also bring down the EPC grade.
Am I the only landlord that doesn't want tenants to be cold or climate to change?

Reply to the comment left by Mike Dedman at 16/10/2024 - 12:13
It is the Climate Cult.
These zealots behind it don't care what anyone thinks, there is too much money to be made by getting the population to believe the Man Made Climate nonsense.
As a friend of fine says, "You are the carbon they want to reduce".

Reply to the comment left by Desert Rat at 16/10/2024 - 04:07
The numpties in Shelter and Generation Rent refuse to believe there are lots of good landlords like you.

Reply to the comment left by Mike Dedman at 16/10/2024 - 12:13
Mike, you are probably correct with your idea that they want everyone to switch to an electric heat pump.

I refuse to do it, and I will never buy an electric car.
The car manufactures can't sell the electric cars they have made as no one wants them.

That is why I'm getting the EPC's done now while gas is still an option.

If the government want to peruse their net zero goal, let them pay for it. I'm not going to pay for their ambitions while the rest of the world continue to burn coal.

Can you imagine the power cuts if everyone shifts to electric heating and electric cars

Did you know that removing a radiator can improve an EPC?
So I have a traditional ex council semi, with a conservatory, which is accessed through the old 'rear door' to the house, and is heated with a radiator which is part of the overall central heating.
For the purposes of an EPC assessment, only 'habitable rooms' are taken in to account, and they have to have heating. So by removing the heating from the conservatory, which is thermally less efficient than the rest of the house, you can remove the conservatory from the equation and improve your EPC.
Or maybe it can be left in place but blanked off just whilst the assessment is done, I dunno.

Also, I suspect that the easy option for the government will be to introduce legislation which says that it is illegal to raise the rent on a property with a less than EPC C.

That would leave the ball very much in the landlord's court, as it becomes a commercial decision of cost to upgrade, vs lost revenue through static rents

Reply to the comment left by Desert Rat at 16/10/2024 - 21:10
Spot on

Reply to the comment left by Jessie Jones at 19/10/2024 - 08:14
The Mad Millipede could well come up with a stunt like this.

Net Zero and belief in climateageddon is a cult, anything is possible.

Think this is a good way to go on EPC. I've made some changes over the years and have recently got places reassessed into the C category. This buys 10 years, by 2034 things will look very different.