John Rumm wrote:
On 06/01/2011 12:12, John Williamson wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
Indeed, and understandable. However given the choice of paying for
your own EPC or not having one at all, which would you choose?

As it's a legal requirement when a property is sold, I don't have the
choice of having one or not. I've never bought a home with one yet,

I realise that, hence why I said "given the choice". In other words, say
there were no EPC provided by the vendor (and no legal requirement for
them to do so), would you still commission your own EPC at your expense
for a place you were buying?

No. But *I* can look at most houses closely and come up with more or
less the right answers myself. I do this when I first view the place,
carrying a ladder in the car just in case, and a camera with a decent
lens on a long stick. Then again, I did a course on building
construction as part of a quantity surveying course many years ago, and
have seen what goes on on site which isn't necessarily what is on the
drawings. I can look for and diagnose things like damp patches round
cavity wall ties and such, where the mortar's bridging the cavity.

Without that experience, you'd be wanting to pay a professional for a
full survey anyway, which should include an energy use check of some sort.

though, so the matter didn't come up, though I did poke my head into the
loft and check for insulation amongst other things.

Given that, I'd rather have one prepared by an accredited professional
than Joe Public. The cost is factored into the house price by the agent
anyway, as was the cost of a HIP.

The cost is factored into the agents fees - not quite the same as the
house price.

Splitting the odd hair. The price paid for a property is the amount
received by the vendor plus all the fees. Either way, the cost is
effectively borne by the purchaser, it's just the way it's split.

I would guess that energy performance as a deciding factor in which
house to buy is pretty far down the list for most buyers. Especially
as its something you can improve after purchase.

A process which the EPC can help you with, unless you do your own full
survey before purchase. It comes with notes as to how the energy
efficiency can be improved, and a guess as to the result. Knowing what's
recommended can also help the purchaser guess how much it's going to
cost to update the property and adjust their offer accordingly.

From those that I have seen, I am not convinced. The assessor makes a
visual inspection of the property, and when is not able to see
something, guesses at the answer, even when information to the contrary
is available from the vendor. The result is a work of fantasy that seems
to have little foundation in fact in many cases.

Most of the suggestions made on the one I had done just before Christmas
made good sense for normal use of the flat. It was even more or less
right about the payback periods. It didn't take account of the way I use
the hot water tank in the airing cupboard as a space heater to warm the
bathroom up on cold mornings, then turn the hot water off until the
following night, except for top-ups. The jacket that's sitting waiting
in the airing cupboard for Spring will be put on before I leave. Where
the EPC process could fall down is where the bulding is not of normal
tile roof and brick wall construction. It did, or so I've been told,
regard a thatched roof as being uninsulated if there wasn't any
insulation in the loft space.

The suggested remedies are simply a boilerplate list of things that
could be done. The only concession being to filter out those not
immediately applicable.

Yersss....

I'll not argue except to say that the boilerplate list is there for a
reason.

It was suggested that I replace the convector heaters which run on a
timer only when I'm home and an hour or so either side with storage
heaters, which store up heat when I'm in and let it out while I'm at
work, for instance. If someone's in all day, then they make sense.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.