Energy Performance Certificates Explained
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and Home Information Packs (HIPs)
You've probably arrived here after learning you need - or will soon need - an Energy Performance Certificate before you can legally market your home for sale or rent to the public. This section will run you through, in simple English, what's involved, and what to watch out for when ordering a Home Information Pack.
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EPCs, HIPs and the Law!
All this applies to residential homes only.
(Updated: 14th April 2009, to reflect another Government amendment on first day marketing (FDM).)
Let's get some confusing facts out of the way:
Do I need a Home Condition Report (HCR)?
No (but it is optional).
Do I need a Home Information Pack (HIP)?
Yes - From December 14th 2007 all homes marketed for sale require a Home Information Pack with an Energy Performance Certificate.
From 6th April 2009 a Home Information Pack and Energy Performance Certificate is required before marketing may commence - see below for exemptions.
New build
From 1st May 2008, new-build homes marketed for sale require a HIP which must include a rating against the new Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) building regulations. The HIP must include either an:
- interim certificate which reflects the expected rating against the CSH (off-plan); or a
- nil-rated certificate indicating it meets Regulation 17C of the Building Regulations 2006; or
- a star rating between 1 and 6 against the Code for Sustainable Homes.
Predicted Energy Assessment (new-build off-plan)
A HIP for a home marketed off-plan must contain a Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA). If the home is built before the home is sold, the PEA must be replaced with a full Energy Performance Certificate by the person responsible for its construction. That person must then hand it over to the owner of the building before notifying Building Control that they have done so.
(See HIP exemptions at bottom of page)
Do I need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)?
Yes - From December 14th 2007 all homes marketed for sale require an EPC (but read on...)
Can I market my home without a HIP and EPC?
No, but you don't need to wait for a full HIP to arrive before marketing can commence. So long as all the required documents have been commissioned and paid for (or a commitment to pay is made), marketing may commence with a partial HIP containing the following:
- Index
- Property Information Questionnaire
- Energy Performance Certificate or Predicted Energy Assessment
- Sustainability Certificate (new homes only)
- Sale Statement
- Land Registry Documents.
However, the other documents (see below for full list) must be included within the HIP within 28 days of marketing first commencing.
A Home Information Pack must physically be in the possession of the person responsible for marketing your home (usually an estate agent) before marketing can commence.
Energy Performance Certificate - new rules
This bit is important. Under new regulations, from October 1st 2008, home-owners are now responsible for the Energy Performance Certificate. So check your estate agent doesn't trip-up and potentially land you both with a £200 fine, per instance!
From October 1st 2008, an Energy Performance Certificate must now be available:
- when the property is viewed;
- when written information is provided on request;
- before contracts are exchanged.
Sales particulars: Displaying the Energy Performance Certificate
As a minimum, the asset ratings graphs (see top picture) from your EPC must be included within the sales particulars (including electronic) if they contain two or more of the following:
- A photograph of the building or any room inside the building
- A floor plan of the building
- A description of the size of the rooms in the building.
Advertising
With window cards and newspaper adverts you are not legally obliged to include the rating graphs, although the Government suggests it would be good practice to do so if they contain any two of the above items.
Commissioned
By 'commissioned', the Government means all documents - including the EPC - within your HIP must have been ordered with a commitment to pay.
There should also be an expectation that all documents will be made available within 28 days of ordering. If they are not (unlikely in most cases), the person responsible for marketing your home must make reasonable efforts to obtain them as soon as possible, or risk pain of penalty (see below).
From 31st December 2008 a Home Information Pack must be made available from the time it is first placed on the market. This date ends the transition period which allowed HIPs only to be commissioned before marketing commences.
Enforcement penalty fine (£200)
If you - or your estate agent - is responsible for actively marketing your home, there is pain in store for not obtaining a HIP: £200 penalty fine (repeatable for each day).
The EPC, however, is the sole responsibility of the home-seller. Although it would make for a daft estate agent to expose you to a penalty fine through negligently marketing your home without an EPC in the HIP (because they too would kop for a fine), unfortunately, Trading Standards Officers are discovering many, large and small, doing just that; finding they have not even commissioned a HIP, never mind an EPC.
Estate agents are automatically reported to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for continued naughtiness, leading to a banning order. But despite these risks, some agents are seemingly willing to cut corners just to have your property on their shelves, rather than competitors. Be aware!
How long is an EPC valid for?
An EPC is valid for 10 years but must not be more than 3 years old when you place your home on the market. You can market your home immediately once you have commissioned a Home Information Pack with a valid Energy Performance Certificate.
If you use an existing EPC, less than 3 years old, within a HIP, it will remain valid for as long as your home is continuously marketed. But if you temporarily pull your home off the market for more than 28 days, you will need to replace it if it's more than 3 years old when you resume marketing.
A new EPC supercedes an older one.
How long is a Home Information Pack (HIP) valid?
As long as the home remains unsold and continuously marketed. If you take it off the market, however, for longer than four weeks (28 days), you need another. Some documents within the HIP may also need refreshing periodically (searches, for example).
My house is for sale already! Do I need a HIP?
From October 1st 2008, homes marketed before August 1st 2007 require an Energy Performance Certificate, regardless of when they were first marketed and regardless if they remain unsold.
So if your house was put up for sale before that date, and is still on the market, you now need an EPC.
First Day Marketing
First day marketing was a temporary provision to allow homes to be marketed if both a HIP and EPC had been ordered. First day marketing ended 6th April 2009. From this date, a HIP must now be in place before marketing commences.
Find out what's involved in an energy assessment survey along with some tips to ensure it all goes smoothly!
What's in a Home Information Pack?
- Home Information Pack Index
- Energy Performance Certificate
- A Property Information Questionnaire, completed by the seller.
- Sale statement - Basic details showing address, whether leasehold/freehold/commonhold, vacant possession.
- Standard searches - Local land charges, water and drainage, planning decisions, road-building proposals.
- Evidence of title - Who actually owns the gaff!
- For leasehold sales - As of December 14th 2007, only the Lease is required. Additional Leashold documents can be included as "authorised" documents but are not mandatory. This law-change applies retrospectively to all HIPs, even those commissioned before 14th December 2007.
HIP exemptions
Want to avoid the HIP? Well, you'll need to fall into one of these categories then:
- Properties subject to a condition limiting their use to occupation for less than 11 months per year or holiday accommodation
- Private sale (where no marketing occured) eg: member of family
- Mixed sales (eg. shop with flat)
- Non residential property
- Right to buy and similar properties
- Sales of property portfolios
- Properties not sold with complete vacant possession
- Unsafe properties and properties to be demolished
- Park homes
Home Condition Reports - Confusion
Part of the confusion stems from the fact that during 2006, the Government suddenly abandoned plans to require home-sellers to commission a Home Condition Report (HCR). Instead, the Govt. went ahead with just the HIP and EPC requirement (which was - and still is - a component of the HCR).
Although you are still free to have a Home Condition Report of your property drawn-up, the "good news" is, because of a Government U-turn, a HCR is now only voluntary... although this is apparently under review, over three years on!
If you really want to dig deep into the technicalities of energy performance certificates, you might find the section for Domestic Energy Assessors insightful (although I bet you won't).
Disclaimer: Believe it or not, even the Government department responsible for Home Information Packs - the Communities and Local Government - declare this in their own guides! The information on this page is given in good faith but can only be taken as an interpretation of the regulations, not a literal representation.
