EPC – contact your MP?

EPC – contact your MP?

10:57 AM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago 36

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Hello, I’m a landlord with 4 flats that turnover less than £5k per annum each. They will never reach an EPC C. I can apply for exemptions once I have spent up to the £10k (more than 2 years turnover, not profit) on each flat.

I’m so annoyed with the stupidity of this legislation. It is based on an EPC that isn’t seen as fit for purpose by the climate change committee. The consultation that closed in January 2021 hasn’t been commented on.

There is a lot of really intelligent sensible stuff written on this site about this BUT who is listening?

Because I feel so powerless in this and want our voices heard I have been in touch with my local MP and I think any landlord in my situation should do the same.

Explain to them the situation about these regulations driving landlords from the PRS and ask them to speak on your behalf when these new regulations eventually get to be debated in Parliament.

Because of the housing crisis in the UK, every MP has a duty to protect the availability of cheap housing in their area or allow the increase of homelessness. Most of us in my situation have “substandard” homes that are warm, dry and affordable.

Say to him or her to highlight the detrimental effect a blanket £10k cap on spending (no matter what the income generated) could have on the PRS in in their constituency.

Ask him or her if they could suggest in such a debate that short notice to put in improvements when there is a shortage of skilled labour in the country is not enough time? The finalised regulations are 2 years off and yet there has still been no response to the January consultation.

If these regulations are not debated and finalised soon the wait for works will be enormous. At present, if I want a new window from a reputable firm the wait is 10 months and all the insulation contractors are doing lucrative grant paid for works and are not interested in small jobs like mine.

Ask your MP to point out that the EPC as it stands is not seen as fit for purpose by Lord Deben, the chair of the climate change committee, and as these measures are about making our housing stock more energy efficient then perhaps addressing the shortcomings of the EPC should come first? Perhaps it is possible to delay these new regulations and concentrate on that instead.

I actually think that last point about EPCs is really the most important … surely we should have a measure of energy efficiency that is fit for purpose?

So keep complaining on these pages but take your voice to where it might be heard please….and I know you’ll think what’s the point!

But if every MP in every constituency heard us maybe some sense could prevail …. You know, in the time you read this you could have rung your MP and made an appointment at their surgery.

Thank you,

Susan


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Comments

david porter

11:42 AM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

The issues are really around the fact that mps are of insufficient quality.
How can you maintain a house in London and one in the area you represent on 80k pa?
You cannot so persons of suffiecnt quality will not join.
This is why we have nitwit mps.
You best solution would be to cash in you chips and sell each flat to an Owner occupier

Richard Phillips

11:46 AM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

Hi Susan, I'm a landlord that does EPCs! although mainly commercial properties.
You say that you have 4 flats that will never achieve a C rating. You'll have had EPC's done in the past, as they're a legal requirement at the point of any sale or lease, but you've not said what the current ratings are or what recommendations were made on the EPC.
The domestic EPCs reflect how expensive a property is to occupy, whereas the commercial EPCs are based around CO2 production. Therefore a poorly rated domestic property is going to be expensive for a tenant to heat during their occupancy.
The EPC methodology is receiving a lot of bad press at the moment from journalists who don't appear to have spoke to anyone who deals with them on a day to day basis. There are some gaping chasms in the way certain things are dealt with , but I think in principle they're a good tool of comparing one property against another. At the moment its the only tool.
It does strike me that the govt has failed to keep investing in the methodology to make it more robust. Politicians have latched onto the "Air Source Heat Pump" demand without fully understanding that it is simply not feasiblte to fit these to most dwellings.

Judith Wordsworth

11:51 AM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

It would be interesting to know how many MPs have got out of the PRS in the last 5 years.
I know my local MP did!

xBrito

12:00 PM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Richard Phillips at 03/04/2023 - 11:46
Hi Suan
As someone who does EPC's perhaps you can answer my question. My rental property will be due its next ECP in 2024, It current rating is D. On the assessment report it states that there is an assumption that there is no roof or wall insulation. I know there is roof insulation so how is this validated to the assessor, as the insulation is beneath loft boards ?

Richard Phillips

12:04 PM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Ian Brand at 03/04/2023 - 12:00
If the assessor cannot see or verify the presence of insulation , then the assumption on the level of insulation would be based upon the age of the property and entered as ..."as built". If you know that there is roof insulation then presumably you're able to open something up for them to see and verify. DO you have invoices detailing how much and type of insulation?

Chris Bradley

12:18 PM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

I am looking at buying a Victorian property with an outdated EPC, waiting for details on the new one.
But the old one says its a E rating with maximum rating of D with a list of improvements. The seller has done the improvements so I am expecting a rating of D with no improvements possible to make it to a C- so how would a landlord apply for an exemption in this case?

Barbara Gwyer

12:52 PM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

I own an ex-local top floor flat in a block of 60, the majority of which are still owned by the council. I have just had an EPC done which has dropped its rating from a mid-D to a poor D and it would seem that the only way I can reach a C rating is by insulating both the flat roof and the solid brick walls. I asked how is this possible when the council owns the brickwork and the roof (there is no roof space) but was given no answer. As increasingly lenders won't remortgage properties without the C rating, the way I see it I have no choice but to sell up.

Richard Phillips

13:20 PM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Barbara Gwyer at 03/04/2023 - 12:52
What are the other ratings in the block like? Assuming similar ratings, then the council or Housing Assocation will also have to make improvements.

Chris Bradley

13:41 PM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Richard Phillips at 03/04/2023 - 13:20
Or the council/housing association evicts the tenants and sells of their housing stock

SirAA

13:42 PM, 3rd April 2023, About A year ago

Contacting any MP about this would be complete waste of time since they are all in the conspiracy and deceit of zero carbon target.
What we need is for landlords as a collective force to engage top QCs to take a judicial review challenge to the Govt for discriminately singling out landlords and tenants for this. After all, the ratings standard in an EPC is largely assumptive and arbitrary. For example, you only get a rating of "Good" after spending £000s on energy efficient UPVC windows and doors. Why is the rating not "Excellent"; given that's the gold standard? We should also mount protests at parliament to get our collectives voices heard.

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