Requirement to provide an EPC when building, selling or renting out a
Posted by Mike Gordon on 22 July 2015 01:14 PM
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An EPC is required whenever a building is built, sold, or let to a new tenant. This requirement was introduced in stages, beginning on 1 August 2007. An EPC is only required for a dwelling that is self contained – i.e. one that it does not share essential facilities such as a bathroom/shower room, wc or kitchen with any other dwelling, and that it has its own entrance, either from outside or through common parts, that is not through another unit. Existing dwellings The purpose of the EPC is to show prospective tenants or buyers the energy performance of the dwelling they are considering. Therefore, the landlord or seller must commission an EPC and ensure that a copy of it is available free of charge to interested parties at the earliest opportunity. As a minimum, this should be when prospective tenants or buyers are first given written information about a dwelling or are arranging to view it. A copy of the EPC must be always given free of charge to the person who ultimately becomes the tenant or the new owner of a property, before any contract is entered into. An EPC does not have to be made available if the seller or prospective landlord believes on reasonable grounds that: • the prospective buyer or tenant is unlikely to have sufficient funds to purchase the building or is not genuinely interested in buying or renting a building of that type • the seller or prospective landlord is unlikely to be prepared to sell or rent the building to the prospective buyer or tenant. However this does not authorise unlawful discrimination Where the landlord or seller has an agent, the agent may be given the task of ensuring that these requirements are met. However, the landlord or seller will remain responsible for any breaches. New dwellings When a new dwelling is constructed and is physically complete, it is the responsibility of the person carrying out the construction to give an Energy Performance Certificate (full standard assessment procedure or SAP EPC) to the building owner and to notify building control that this has been done. Building control will not issue a certificate of completion until they are satisfied this has been done. Similarly, if a dwelling is modified to have more or fewer parts than it originally had and the modification includes the provision or extension of fixed services for heating, air conditioning or mechanical ventilation (i.e. those services that condition the indoor climate for the benefits of the occupants) then a full SAP EPC will be required. When the modifications are physically complete, it is the responsibility of the person carrying out the modification works to give a full SAP EPC to the building owner and to notify building control that this has been done. Building control will not issue a certificate of completion until they are satisfied this has been done. An EPC relates to a single dwelling, so if a building is converted such that it will contain more, or fewer, separate dwellings than before, a new full SAP EPC will be required in relation to each new self contained dwelling.
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