23 November, 2009 • 09:02
Many people in Cumbria are now looking for emergency accommodation. It is worth bearing in mind that there is a statutory defence to a requirement to have an EPC prior to letting a property in an emergency situation.
This is provided by regulation 42 of the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007. This regulation stipulates that it is a defence to a prosecution under the regulations when:
- The letting was to provide emergency accommodation for the tenant due to a need for urgent relocation;
- There was no EPC currently in the possession or control of the landlord and there was insufficient time to reasonably obtain one prior to the letting; and
- An EPC has been obtained and provided to the tenant as soon as was reasonably practicable after the letting commenced.
Obviously, any landlord seeking to take advantage of this exception would be well advised to obtain written confirmation from the prospective tenant that it is an emergency and they should also book the EPC as soon as possible, and ideally before the start of the tenancy.
Filed under: Uncategorized , emergency letting, energy efficiency
We have been surprised to be told of a few cases where Local Housing Authorities are serving improvement notices under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System on landlords because they have a very poor Energy Performance Certificate rating. Presumably this is on the basis if the ‘excess cold’ hazard profile in the HHSRS. However, an EPC is a measure of the cost of heating and lighting a property and says nothing about how warm or cold that property can be. Therefore it is hard to see on what basis action is being taken.
If anyone would care to give some more information we would be grateful!
Filed under: Uncategorized , energy efficiency, HHSRS, Housing Act 2004
1 September, 2009 • 20:15
The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England & Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 came into force on 10 August 2009.
These make a small amendment to the EPC regulations to allow for disclosure of EPCs, recommendations and Display Energy Certificates on the sale of properties. Where an EPC is produced for a property which is for sale and the rating on the certificate is in bands F or G the keeper of the EPC register (ie. one of the licensed bodies who register and maintain records of inspectors) is permitted to disclose the certificate to the Energy Saving Trust Ltd, a body licensed by government to provide information and advice in relation to energy saving in the home.
The objective of the disclosure is to allow the trust to provide information to the owner of the property on things they can do to improve the efficiency of the property and grants that might be available to pay for the improvements.
In general this will have limited effects on the sector except to encourage improvement of less efficient properties. This may be of benefit as these properties are generally less desirable and harder to sell although, in truth, most agents will already be pointing vendors and landlords towards the trust and its free advisory services in any event.
Filed under: Uncategorized , energy efficiency, Europe, regulations
The European Commission, the primary legislative body of the EU, has put forward proposals to make changes to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). CLG has published a consultation on the proposals to allow it to reflect the views of UK stakeholders back to the commission.
The proposals are in two categories. The first stage, which UK government supports seeks to clarify and simplify the directive. The other part seeks to expand and strengthen the directive. The UK government is largely opposed to this, in common with its general policy on Europe, and takes the view that many of the issues should remain with member states under the general principle of subsidiarity.
Looking at the key proposals they are as follows:
- buildings occupied by public authorities or where the public visit regularly are to have a Display Energy Certificate on display where the building is larger than 250 sq m as oppose to the current size of 1000 sq m;
- any commercial or domestic building which is renovated will also have to have its energy performance upgraded at the same time for which targets will be set;
- there will be minimum requirements for technical building systems such as boilers in commercial property.
Naturally this will cause increased costs for many older properties. However, given the impact of empty building rates on commercial property and the consequent knocking down of some of these properties the impact may well be small. In residential properties properties being renovated will have to have their performance improved but this would probably be done in the majority of renovations anyway.
The consultation is open for responses until 2 October 2009.
Filed under: Uncategorized , consultations, energy efficiency, Europe
