We were reading in the Property Week (27th May edition) just how
unreliable an EPC rating can be. This matters because from
2018 when new minimum energy efficiency regulations (MEES) start to
apply, investors won't be able to grant a lease of a property
(and that includes a lease renewal) with an F or a G rating unless
they qualify for a temporary form of exemption. The article
reflects what we feared which is that the cheapest EPC will
generally have had less data inputted and will rely on default
settings within the computer programme that generates the EPCs so
making it easy (and probably cheap) to get a quick EPC but at a low
rating.
As we have
posted before it is advisable for investors to carry out
a review of their EPC ratings to work out which properties need
upgrading before 2018 using a reputable EPC assessor and as
Property Week says, may be going further and auditing the existing
"stock" of EPCs to see which have been carried out
properly.
