From October 2008 all buildings rented out by private landlords or the Local Authority have been required to have a Social

Housing Energy Certificate (EPC). Whilst this has crucial implications for landlords and Local Authorities there are still some buildings which do not always require individual EPCS to be carried out on them, such as:

Cloned EPCs – this is a type of Energy Performance Certificate for buildings that are very similar to each other. This tends to relate to buildings such as blocks of flats where all the properties are more or less identical to each other, with similar dimensions and heating for example. Such properties must also be made out of the same material and not have any alterations made to them.  In order to produce cloned EPCs an Energy Assessor must make an assessment on one or two of the properties within the block of flats. Doing this helps to create an accurate picture of what the other properties will be like and this is information is used to create the Clone EPC.

Landlords – Guidelines for Social Housing. There is plenty of information available for landlords on how EPC sampling from similar buildings can take place.

For more information on Clone EPCs contact CR Energy.

In addition to buildings which are exempt from needing individual EPCs carried out on them there are also other ways in which landlords and Social Housing can get help with funding. For example, grants are available to landlords and Social Housing authorities from the UK Housing Association. These are given to help with the cost of funding energy efficiency improvements. At this moment in time landlords can apply for up to 50% of the total cost (inclusive of VAT) to assist with the improvements to a building.

So it is important that all landlords who have properties which are being marketed for rent need a valid EPC for that property. This must be given to any potential tenants so that they are able to see the energy efficiency of that property before they make a decision on whether or not to rent that property.

All EPCs which are created need to be assessed by a licensed and accredited Energy Assessor. It is against the law for anyone who is not licensed and accredited to produce an EPC as it will no longer be valid. However, once an EPC has been created for a property it is then valid for a period of 10 years. This is still valid even if the tenancy changes hands during that 10 year period.

Buildings which are large and very complex will need to have a Commercial Energy Assessor perform an assessment on them. Such properties which might need this are hostels, homes in multiple locations (HMOs) and so on. For more information on buildings which might require this type of assessment contact CR Energy.