What I need to Know

It is a requirement that any home seller or Landlord  re letting a property is required to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which will form part of the details which will be passed on to the prospective purchaser or tenant.

Our Domestic Energy Assessor’s (DEA) are registered members in the central online register of DEA’s he/she will have undergone a comprehensive training and have passed all the required exams to become a registered DEA.  In our case we use the British Research Establishment (BRE) and our accreditation body is Quidos.

Prior to the Inspection

It is of great assistance to your energy assessor to have certain facts in place prior to the inspection and maybe have some of the items listed below done to improve your property energy rating so that you get the best possible energy rating.

These will include-

• Does the property have double glazing fitted post construction – If so when was it fitted ? If you have a FENSA certificate showing when the windows were fitted this would be most useful.
• Has cavity wall insulation been installed? When was job done? Again if you have any paperwork relating to this work having been done this would be excellent documentary evidence.
• Have you got Energy efficient Light bulbs? If not worth fitting prior to inspection.
• Do you have a separate water jacket on you hot water tank i.e. not a manufacturer foam sprayed tank. If it is a separate jacket and it is 50mm or less it is worth fitting another jacket over the top of the original. This is relatively low cost.
• Is your loft insulation up to standard? The loft insulation should be greater than 150mm A good standard of insulation is double this for mineral wool or similar.

The Heating system

(High cost longer term options)

• If your heating is by radiators and a boiler- Have you got thermostatic radiator valves fitted (TRV’S). Only worth considering if you are having work done on your heating system.
• Do you have an “A” rated energy efficient boiler – These are called condenser boilers as there is an extra heat extraction process that takes heat out of the exhaust gases. These are easily identified as on a cold day you can see a plume of steam being emitted from the boiler exhaust. An “A” rated boiler will make a big difference to your energy efficiency if  this is your prime means of heating and generating hot water, but will obviously be a high cost item worth considering if your existing boiler is old.

Any potential buyer will want to know how much it is going cost to heat the property and if there were two similar properties on the market with one being more energy efficient than the other this could form part of the considerations on a prospective purchase. Apart from this as a consideration it is nice to live in a well heated property!

Finally

Remember we are here to help so if you have any questions on what has been said above we will be please to clarify any points.

Note

Once your certificate is completed you will be able to obtain extra  copies through the “Landmark Registration Group”.