Energy performance certificates (EPCs) are a waste of time
Like many of my generation (I’ve just had my 40th birthday – ugh) I was fortunate with the housing boom.
I bought long enough ago to see my first property double in value. I was able to extend the mortgage and borrow some more money against it. I then put that down as a deposit on another property – a nice little one bed flat which I’ve rented out very happily for six years now.
But over the years the red tape has grown. Nowadays I need a Landlord’s Gas Certificate – every year. I can no longer hold the deposit the tenants pay me in my own bank account – I have to lodge it with the Deposit Protection Scheme. And the latest piece of extra bureaucracy has just landed on my doormat. The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). By law (since October 1st), when my current tenants move out I must now have one of these available to show prospective new tenants.
1) No help getting one
So this new piece of paper I need. How do I go about getting one? Well, there’s plenty of information telling me my obligations, but very little telling me how to fulfill them or how much I should expect to have to spend. So there goes another half day of my time just working it out.
2) Hardly scientific
By chance I sold my main home earlier this year. You have to have an EPC done for house sales too. My estate agent got one done for me as part of the deal. I gather the EPC assessor had a look around my flat but I remain mystified as to how he made an assessment. Access to the loft requires a ladder and torch. Part of it is totally enclosed but actually has top quality insulation in there – but without asking me there’s no way of knowing. I was amazed there wasn’t at least a basic questionnaire for me to fill in. The categorisation criteria must be rudimentary. My flat was a really old building with drafty sash windows, but it still managed a ‘B’ rating – second best. Category ‘G’ properties – the lowest on the scale – must have open windows and holes in the roof.
3) Not worth the paper it’s written on
I mean seriously. If you were looking for a place to rent (or to buy for that matter) would an energy efficiency rating sway your opinion? Surely it’s the basic stuff like quality of the accommodation, location, size and cost that matter far, far more?
4) REALLY not worth the paper it’s written on
Is the goverment serious about EPCs or not? The regularity with which you have to have them done is every TEN years! By then the boiler could be half as efficient as it was when installed and the window frames rotten and drafty as heck. What use is a nine-year-old energy performance certificate to anyone?
The Government seems to love couching these new pieces of red tape as weapons in a crusade against slum landlords who screw their tenants over.
What a load of bunk. As a landlord I want my tenants to be happy and comfortable. If my tenants decide to move out I have to find new ones. That takes time and costs money. I do all I can to make sure they are pleased to be living in my flat.
And if the Government introduces yet more legislation that I have to pay out to comply with, ultimately that cost will get passed on to tenants in the form of higher rent. Everybody loses.
What a waste of time – and energy.
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Originally posted 2008-12-09 00:56:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
