Landlord compliance

EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)

Accredited Energy Performance Certificates for lettings and sales.

From £99.99 (inc VAT) Lodged on the register within 24 hours 12-month workmanship guarantee

Book this service 07426 409342

Starting from

£99.99inc VAT

studio · accredited domestic energy assessors

Accredited domestic energy assessors

Lodged on the national register within 24 hours

Existing insulation and upgrades evidenced, not defaulted away

Clear MEES advice — where you stand and what gets you to E and beyond

Book online

Overview

What is a EPC certificate?

An Energy Performance Certificate rates a property's energy efficiency from A to G and sets out the measures that would improve it. An accredited domestic energy assessor surveys the property, recording construction, insulation, glazing, heating, controls and hot water, then produces the certificate and lodges it on the national EPC register. You legally need a valid EPC before marketing a property to let or sell, and you need at least an E rating to let it at all.

Why it matters

Why it's worth getting right

The EPC has quietly become one of the most consequential documents a landlord holds. Under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards it is not just a disclosure document — a rating of F or G makes the property unlettable, and the penalties for letting one anyway reach £5,000 per property. It also determines eligibility for grant funding, affects mortgage and remortgage decisions as lenders increasingly weight energy performance, and increasingly influences what tenants will pay given how directly the rating maps onto their running costs.

EPCs, MEES and your obligations

The Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 require a valid EPC before a property is marketed for sale or let, with the rating shown in any advertisement and a copy given to the tenant or buyer. An EPC is valid for ten years. Separately, the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 — the MEES regulations — make it unlawful to let a domestic property with an EPC rating below E, and since April 2020 that applies to all existing tenancies, not just new ones. Where you cannot reach E, you must register a valid exemption on the PRS Exemptions Register; you cannot simply let it anyway. Penalties for letting a sub-standard property reach £5,000 per property, and non-compliance is published on the register.

Regulations & standards

The rules this work is carried out to

Every inspection we do is measured against a published standard — here are the ones that apply to this service.

SI 2012/3118

Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012

Valid EPC required before marketing; ten-year validity.

SI 2015/962

Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) Regulations 2015 (MEES)

Minimum EPC band E to let; exemptions must be registered.

RdSAP

Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure

The government methodology used to calculate domestic EPC ratings.

In detail

Understanding your EPC

The technical detail behind the certificate — what gets checked, what the results mean, and the decisions that actually affect your property.

How the rating is actually calculated

Domestic EPCs are produced using RdSAP, a government-defined methodology, which means assessors are not exercising judgement about how efficient a property feels — they are recording defined inputs that drive a fixed calculation. The main inputs are floor area and built form, wall construction and insulation, loft and floor insulation, glazing type and age, the main heating system and its fuel, heating controls, hot water provision, and any low-carbon technologies such as solar PV. Two things follow. First, the rating reflects the fabric and the systems rather than how the occupants behave. Second, and critically, the assessor can only record what can be evidenced — which is where most avoidable low ratings come from.

Why evidence changes your rating

This is the single most valuable thing a landlord can know about EPCs. Where the assessor cannot see or evidence a measure, RdSAP applies a default assumption based on the property's age — and those defaults are pessimistic. A property with cavity wall insulation installed twenty years ago, with no paperwork and nothing visible, is assessed as uninsulated. The result can easily be a band or more of difference on the certificate. Anything you can produce helps: cavity wall or loft insulation guarantees and CIGA certificates, boiler installation and Building Regulations compliance certificates, window FENSA or CERTASS certificates, solar PV MCS documentation, and receipts for insulation work. Gather them before the visit — it is free, and it is the cheapest rating improvement available.

The measures that actually move the score

Improvements are not equal in their effect on the rating. The biggest gains, in rough order, come from loft insulation topped up to 270 mm, which is cheap and highly effective; cavity wall insulation where the construction allows it; replacing an old inefficient boiler with a modern condensing unit; adding proper heating controls including a room thermostat, programmer and thermostatic radiator valves; low-energy lighting throughout, which is trivially cheap and does move the number; and hot water cylinder insulation. Solid wall insulation delivers a large improvement but at a cost that rarely makes sense purely for the rating. Replacing windows generally has a smaller effect on the score than most landlords expect relative to what it costs.

Exemptions when E cannot be reached

Where a property genuinely cannot reach band E, you must register an exemption rather than simply letting it. The main categories are the 'all relevant improvements made' exemption, where every measure that could be funded within the £3,500 cost cap has been carried out and the property still falls short; the high-cost exemption, where no measure can be installed within that cap; the wall insulation exemption, where a suitably qualified expert advises that cavity, external or internal wall insulation would negatively affect the fabric or structure; the third-party consent exemption, where a tenant, freeholder or planning authority has refused consent; and the devaluation exemption, where an independent surveyor confirms the measures would reduce market value by more than five percent. Exemptions last five years, must be registered on the PRS Exemptions Register with supporting evidence, and are not transferable when a property is sold.

Listed buildings — the misunderstanding that catches people out

Listed buildings and those in conservation areas are widely assumed to be automatically exempt from EPC requirements. They are not. The exemption is conditional and narrow: it applies only where compliance with minimum energy performance requirements would unacceptably alter the building's character or appearance — and that has to be demonstrated, not asserted. In practice many listed properties can accommodate loft insulation, improved heating and controls, and secondary glazing without any impact on protected features, which means the exemption does not apply. Our advice is straightforward: get the EPC done, see where the property actually sits, and take a properly evidenced view rather than relying on an assumption that will not survive a challenge.

Warning signs

When you need a new EPC

Order one if any of these apply:

You are marketing the property to let or sell — it must be in place before marketing begins

Your existing EPC is approaching or past ten years old

The current rating is F or G, which makes the property unlettable

You have carried out insulation, boiler, glazing or heating upgrades worth reflecting

The rating is a low E and you want headroom before standards tighten

A lender, agent or insurer has asked for a current certificate

You are applying for grant funding that depends on the current rating

You hold no EPC at all, or cannot locate it on the register

The risks

The cost of an inadequate EPC position

MEES has turned the EPC from a formality into a letting permission:

!Penalties up to £5,000 per property for letting below band E

!The property cannot lawfully be marketed or let at all

!Non-compliance published on the PRS Exemptions Register, visible to anyone

!Sales and remortgages stalled or repriced by a poor rating

!Lenders declining or restricting lending on low-rated stock

!A pessimistic rating from missing paperwork, costing you a whole band

!Higher tenant running costs, which increasingly affects achievable rent

Managing the rating over time

Treat the EPC as a live asset record rather than a document you file once a decade. Keep every certificate and guarantee for insulation, boilers, windows and solar in one place, so the next assessment can evidence them instead of defaulting to a worse assumption. When you replace a boiler or upgrade insulation, consider whether a fresh EPC is worth commissioning immediately — the ten-year clock restarts and an improved rating can matter for lending and lettability well before the old one expires. If you are sitting on a low E, plan improvements now rather than waiting: minimum standards have tightened repeatedly, and the properties that struggle are always the ones left until a deadline is imminent and every contractor is booked.

Why us

The benefits of booking your EPC with us

Accredited, transparent and built around making compliance easy.

Accredited domestic energy assessors

Lodged on the national register within 24 hours

Existing insulation and upgrades evidenced, not defaulted away

Clear MEES advice — where you stand and what gets you to E and beyond

Recommendation report prioritised by actual effect on the rating

Combine with a gas or electrical visit to save a tenant appointment

What's included

Everything covered in your EPC

One all-inclusive price — here is exactly what the engineer does on site and what you receive afterwards.

Full survey by an accredited domestic energy assessor

All measurements, construction, insulation, glazing and heating recorded

Existing insulation and upgrade evidence reviewed and applied to the assessment

RdSAP calculation and certificate production

Lodgement on the national EPC register within 24 hours

Recommendation report showing the measures that would improve the rating

Plain-English MEES advice on where you stand and what to do next

Pricing

Simple, all-inclusive pricing

The price you see is the price you pay — VAT included, with no hidden call-out fees. Your final price depends on the size of your property; we'll confirm an exact, all-inclusive quote before we attend.

EPC from

£99.99inc VAT

studio · accredited domestic energy assessors

Get my exact price

All prices include VAT · 12-month workmanship guarantee

EPC pricing — residential

Property size	Price (inc VAT)
Studio	£99.99
1–3 Bedrooms	£129.99
4 Bedrooms	£149.99
5 Bedrooms	£169.99

All prices include VAT, lodgement on the national register and the full recommendation report. Larger properties and commercial premises are quoted on the commercial EPC scale.

Prices are all-inclusive of VAT with no hidden call-out fees. Where they genuinely apply, parking (£5) and the London Congestion Charge (£18) are passed on at cost and always shown up front.

The process

How your appointment works

Simple, transparent and designed around you and your tenants.

Step 1

Book and gather paperwork

Dig out any insulation, boiler, glazing or solar certificates — they can be worth a full band on the rating.

Step 2

Property survey

The assessor measures the property and records construction, insulation, glazing, heating, controls and hot water.

Step 3

RdSAP assessment

The data is run through the government methodology, with your evidenced upgrades applied rather than pessimistic defaults.

Step 4

Lodged and delivered

Your EPC is lodged on the national register within 24 hours and emailed with a prioritised recommendation report.

FAQs

EPC — frequently asked questions

Ten years. You do not need a new one during that period unless you want to reflect improvements you have made — for example after a new boiler or insulation work, where a fresh certificate can meaningfully improve the rating.

At least band E. Since April 2020 that applies to all tenancies, not just new ones. Letting below E without a registered exemption can attract a penalty of up to £5,000 per property.

Typically 30 to 60 minutes depending on property size. The assessor needs access to every room, plus the loft, the boiler and the hot water cylinder if there is one.

In rough order of impact: loft insulation to 270 mm, cavity wall insulation where the construction allows, a modern condensing boiler, proper heating controls, low-energy lighting throughout, and cylinder insulation. Window replacement generally moves the score less than people expect for the cost.

Because where a measure cannot be seen or evidenced, the methodology assumes a pessimistic default based on the property's age. Cavity insulation installed twenty years ago with no documentation is assessed as if it does not exist — which can cost you a whole band. Bring guarantees, FENSA certificates and installation paperwork to the visit.

Not automatically, and this is a common and expensive misunderstanding. The exemption applies only where compliance would unacceptably alter the building's character or appearance, and that must be demonstrated. Many listed properties can take loft insulation, better heating and secondary glazing without affecting protected features.

Book now

Book your EPC today

Fill in the form and we'll confirm your appointment and an all-inclusive price, usually within the hour. Prefer to talk? Call us and we'll book you in within two minutes.

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07426 409342

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07426 409342