In December 2024, the government published the long-awaited consultation on EPC Reform, titled Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime. The consultation details a number of proposed changes to the EPB framework, including changes to the validity period of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and Display Energy Certificates (DECs).

Elmhurst has carefully reviewed the consultation and proposals specifically concerning Domestic and Non-Domestic EPCs (DEC validity is covered in its own article) and has shared our insights on the direction we believe reforms for these energy certificates should take.

When 10 years is too long

Since first publishing our Almanac in 2019, Elmhurst has firmly advocated that an EPC should only be valid for 3 years. This is driven by the fact that properties can (and do) change within this time period, particularly sale properties, when new owners (especially buy-to-let landlords) make improvements upon taking ownership.

10 years is far too long a validity period for anything requiring useful information for a viewer or key stakeholder. Its even worse if you need to use that information or data for something useful or regulatory.

Currently, properties can transact using a (up to) 10 year old EPC. This could potentially contain out of date information, such as property features, recommendations, carbon factors and running costs and savings. This almost entirely negates the value of the EPC for the buyer or renter. Additionally, the methodology used to produce the EPC will have changed in that time period. Indeed, we are about to see the launch of two new methodologies this year, in RdSAP 10 for existing dwellings and the Home Energy Model (HEM) for new dwellings. These will produce greater accuracy in EPCs with different costs, and also recommendations with updated savings.

The validity period is also crucial to all stakeholders when considering the requirements in other legal contexts, such as property misdescriptions. The longer the validity, the more out of date/inaccurate the descriptions on the EPC and the greater the risk of falling fowl of this legal provision.

As a side note, the Scottish Government has recently responded to their own EPC consultation and concluded that they are adopting a 5-year validity period. We may be entering a period in a few years time where England, Wales and Northern Ireland have a different validity period to Scotland, and as far as Elmhurst are concerned, this should be absolutely workable and reasonable.

A phased approach to change?

Changing the validity period for a document such as the EPC, is not an easy process and requires good communication, awareness, enforcement and the right actions to take place.

The government’s consultation proposes contrasting approaches to making a change to validity period. On one hand, we have the option of a clean break; all EPCs, old and new would have the same validity period. On the other hand; only new EPCs would be impacted by the change – the older EPCs would still be valid for 10-years.

We spoke to Keeran Jugdoyal on our timely podcast last year and he noted that the government genuinely wanted to learn the opinions of our industry here, having no real policy or regulatory driver or preconceived ideal.

Elmhurst’ believes that we should be trying to avoid the unintended consequences of a register which has two types of EPCs. It could be feasible that an EPC is lodged this year that is valid until 2035 but then the same address could have a futher EPC lodged in 2026 that could be only valid until 2028. What happens under this circumstance? Which EPC is more valid? It would be far simpler and cleaner to have one validity period for all EPCs; new and old.

Elmhurst are also wary of creating a scenario which incentivises stakeholders to get their EPCs done before the validity period changes. This could result in a slew of EPCs being lodged before the change so that they beat the system and get a 10-year validity.

In addition, the only point of truth with regards to EPCs remains the EPC Register itself. Therefore, should you need to check the validity period of any EPC, then a visit to the register or via the open data would be the best option. If all EPCs has the same validity, it could be easily controlled via the register. This would add further necessity and value towards the use of the central register.

Keeping up with the (PRS) Jones’s

The government also wanted to know if there should be a requirement to lodge a new EPC when an existing one expires for private rented buildings. In short, Elmhurst think there should. Fundamentally, there are likley to be changes made to a property in that time period, so the EPC needs to be updated to reflect this.

It is likely that many responsible and risk averse building owners (mostly landlords) are already doing this. It ensures they always have a valid and up to date EPC which means they are aware of how the building performs and are not in an unknown position should something change, be it a change in tenancy which would require a new EPC quickly to comply with Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) or via a regulator change in itself (i.e. a new version of MEES). Moreover, it is good for the tenant who has access to valid data and information about the property they live in.

Another benefit is that the government register, and open data would be constantly kept up to date which helps with reporting, strategic planning, academic research purposes etc.

“All information correct at the time of writing”

Currently the regulations state that a property can be marketed as long as the EPC has been instructed. Ultimately, it must be lodged within 28-days.

Elmhurst believes this must be changed so that properties can only be marketed once the EPC is lodged. In the digital age, all properties should have key upfront information available at the point of marketing them. By changing the regulations, it would be illegal to market a property without the EPC being available to an interested party.

A typical lead time for a domestic EPC from instruction to lodgement is approximately 3-5 days, which is similar to the time it takes to prepare the particulars for a property and list it online and in an agent’s window. Given that the EPC in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is digital and can be retrieved instantly from the government owned, digital service, there should be no time lag and therefore no delay to marketing of the property.

This principle also means that the EPC itself can be included in the marketing, and not just the headline rating (A-G) or the rating graph. As the format of the EPC is being reviewed within this consultation, it would be a huge opportunity to make the full EPC available to anyone interested in purchasing the property as soon as possible, so they have a complete picture of the property’s energy performance. This should contribute to a reduction in the number of transactions failing to complete due to a lack of timely information.

Elmhurst encourages its members, and anyone involved in the industry to read and respond to the government consultation in advance of the deadline on the 26^th February. Elmhurst will be sharing its full draft response with members in due course.

Related Links

To read the government consultation, please click the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforms-to-the-energy-performance-of-buildings-regime/reforms-to-the-energy-performance-of-buildings-regime