Warning To Landlords - Could Your EPC Be Incorrect?

In response to the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) from Europe, legislation has been enacted in the UK requiring all commercial properties being sold or let to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) from the 1st January 2009. The intent of the legislation was that this work should be carried out by accredited Energy Assessors (EA), administered and controlled by Government approved Accreditation schemes.

Recently there have been growing numbers of providers within the market seeking to take advantage of an apparent loophole in the Regulations which allowed much of the work involved in the assessment of properties to be sub-contracted out to individuals who were not themselves fully accredited, and in some cases not trained at all. Some companies are sending so called “data gatherers to site to gather information on building dimensions, construction types and building services, much of which requires considerable skill, experience and training in order to correctly survey. In many instances the “Energy Assessor” who “assesses” the building, has never been to site, and may also not have carried out the “modelling” of the data to produce the EPC either, and solely using their accredited name to lodge the certificates on the national database.

The result of this practice has been to cast serious doubt on the quality of EPC’s being lodged in the national database, and to damage the public perception of the product.

Dr Lindsay Maxwell, one of the first Level 4 CIBSE Low Carbon Energy Assessors says

“Use of untrained data collectors in the preparation of EPC’s means that Landlords may find themselves paying for certificates which do not reflect the true performance of their buildings. It is possible to generate certificates very quickly using mainly default values in the software, and these will usually result in unfavourable ratings. So Landlords need to beware of this practice as it is likely to mean that their buildings get a poorer rating than it would have done if surveyed and analysed diligently by a qualified assessor.”

Most recently advertisements have gone out from companies offering to lodge EPC’s in the national database on behalf of anyone who generates them, thereby opening the market to all comers and completely by-passing the controls intended to ensure quality and consistency of the product.

After feedback from CIBSE and other reputable organisations running accreditation schemes, CLG has now acted to place restrictions on the use of data gatherers.

With immediate effect the following requirements are to be introduced by CLG via the Accreditation Schemes:

1. The EA who lodges the EPC must visit the property - this applies to all types of EPCs and DECs.

a. Affirmation is required from the EA that a visit took place
b. Accreditation Schemes should put procedures in place to ensure EAs make declarations regarding visits
c. The only exception to this is for those assessments relating to on construction EPCs.
These changes are consistent with, but clarify existing guidance, and will take immediate effect.

The following changes may require changes to existing guidance and/or standards and should take effect from 1 April 2009.

2. Data gatherers are not permitted for domestic property. If a DEA uses existing data held by another on a property, they must verify this data through a site visit.

3. Data gatherers are not permitted for level 3 property
 
4. Data gatherers are permitted for level 4 and 5 in the following circumstances:

a. Anyone collecting data for level 4 and 5 must be accredited to level 3 or provide documentary evidence that shows they are ‘fit and proper’ and qualified to undertake the work in hand.
b. Any data gatherers used must work for the same company as the Energy Assessor.
c. Energy Assessors must have ISO 9001 procedures in place and supervise the data gatherers in their employ and on site.
d. The Energy Assessor is responsible for the quality of the data used for the certificate and the competence of any persons gathering data on their behalf.
e. The names of all data gatherers used for the EPC must be logged and provided to the Accreditation Scheme.

5. Accreditation Schemes should monitor the number of EPCs that EAs are lodging and instigate additional audits for those lodging large numbers of EPCs from a diverse geographical area.

6. Any EAs breaching these rules should be suspended.

7. Organisations accepting remote lodgements in return for a fee are unacceptable.

Until such time as these guidelines are fully enforced, Landlords are well advised to check that the Assessor they are engaging is fully accredited as an individual, and will be attending to the project personally in accordance with the new guidelines. If not, there is a risk that the validity of the EPC may be later called into question, should the provider be subject to audit by their accreditation body and found wanting.