What is an EPC and How Do You Get One?

The UK government has recently suspended the requirement for home sellers to purchase a HIP or Home Information Pack. These packs were intended to speed up the process of buying a new home by including a lot of the information that is normally organised by your conveyance once an offer has been accepted. However since the economic slump has slowed the housing market down to a crawl, suspending the need for sellers to pay for a HIP in order to move house, will encourage the housing market to pick up again. Now home sellers can once again put their houses on the market with less hassle and at a lower cost.

An EPC or Energy Performance Certificate is one of the items that is recommended to be included within a HIP and these are still a compulsory requirement. A European Directive made it compulsory for all properties selling in the UK to hold an EPC and the government says that this will encourage people to properly insulate their homes and cut carbon emissions.

How Do You Get an EPC?

An EPC inspector called a Domestic Energy Assessor will visit your home and rate how energy efficient it is. They will look closely at the amount of loft and cavity insulation you have and heating systems such as your boiler, central heating, light bulbs and window insulation. The ratings range from A, being the most efficient, to G being the least. Everyone is used to seeing the stickers showing energy efficiency ratings on new kitchen appliances like fridge, washing machines and cookers, now you can have one for your whole house. Newly built properties are already built to certain required specifications, but older properties, especially, listed buildings may need some investment made in order to boost the ratings.

To get an Energy Performance Certificate for your home all you need to do is find a company offering domestic energy assessors and find out how much they charge. The current rules on the government's web site are that you may market your home as soon as you can prove you have commissioned and paid for an EPC assessment but have not necessarily received one, making the home marketing process much faster and cheaper for sellers.