I know I have to have an EPC to sell my house and I know that the survey will take about 45 minutes to an hour when the guy comes to do it.
What I don't know is, do I get the certificate 'there and then' or does he have to go away and do some witchcraft and then I get it a few days later?
He'll need to put his numbers into a spreadsheet and format the report. Probably done the same day and emailed to you.
Why not ask one directly?
+1 DIY after all :/
They email it to you later after ticking a few boxes on a spreadsheet.
It isn't worth the paper it isn't printed on.
Clueless muppet marked my parents house down for not being entirely double glazed. The north facing larder is only single glazed (and still with its original rather thick and heavy frosted glass!
It wasn't worth the effort of disputing it.
It's no longer a report, it's an entry in the database which can be looked up online:
If you are worried about it, it is worth going through things with the inspector before they enter it into their iPad, in particular if there are things that aren't obvious (eg cavity wall insulation).
Although they don't have a lot of leeway: if the property wasn't entirely double glazed, it sounds like the only tickbox is 'partially double glazed'.
One thing worth doing: replace any filament lightbulbs with LEDs or CFLs if you haven't already. It bumps you up a few points for basically no work. If you care about the results, some other quick things might be worth doing (eg toss some more rockwool in the loft, if the current is substandard)
However they *have* to do it the standardised (RdSAP) way, which is the point of having a standardised (if crap) assessment. You can get a full SAP report and heatloss calc if you want, but it's not what goes on the EPC database.
Theo
Actually, it seems that SAP assessments of newbuilds are showing up on the DB now:
Feature Description Rating Walls Average thermal transmittance 0.25 W/m²K Very good Roof Average thermal transmittance 0.16 W/m²K Good Floor Average thermal transmittance 0.16 W/m²K Very good Windows High performance glazing Very good Main heating Air source heat pump, underfloor, electric Average Main heating control Programmer and room thermostat Average Hot water From main system Poor Lighting Low energy lighting in all fixed outlets Very good Air tightness Air permeability 5.2 m³/h.m² (as tested) Good Secondary heating None N/A
so maybe it's possible to get your own SAP up there if you wanted to. It is probably not worth doing unless you have an eco-home and using this as a selling point though.
Theo
Cliff Topp expressed precisely :
Thanks all.
How does an inspector tell?
Look at them? Turning them on if necessary?
Maybe not if it's some super hidden fitting, but they are mostly interested in room lighting, not the insides of cupboards or whatever. If they can't see things they make assumptions (the point is it's a quick survey not a thorough one).
I think you get full marks for having more than two thirds of your lamps being energy saving, ie they don't care about a single light here or there especially those which are rarely on.
Theo
They do seem to be able to spot any incandescent lamps. That is right at the limit of their "skill set".
The whole thing is a meaningless tick box exercise.
How would turning them on show anything?
When we had to have this pointless survey done on a holiday let the surveyor refused to give credit for the cavity wall insulation because he couldn't see it!
Mike
You can pretty much tell at a glance with most CFLs or LED bulbs since they have a plastic base PSU bulge and are not glass envelope right to the base. If in any doubt the weight test is a sure give away.
EPC operatives may be thick but they are not quite that stupid.
They won't take them out of the fitting, but it's fairly obvious to tell the difference between a tungsten filament (light makes a U shape across the face of the bulb), a COB LED filament (light goes along the axis of the bulb), a PCB mounted LED (light comes out of the base of the bulb) and a CFL (folded up tube). Even in a diffuser you can often see the patterns. Also 'cold white' is not a thing that tungsten bulbs do.
If they can't tell they'll guess. It's only a ballpark figure after all.
Theo
Assessors can only include insulation if they can see it *or* see evidence of the work was done. Some people are mistaken about such things. Other's would just lie.
... and 'turning them on' helps here! :-)
It's a good job that I've still got the certificate form having the CWI done then, as since then, the front wall has been repointed, the back is an extension that was built with CWI, so only the side wall has any visible marks ... and they are entirely within the mortar lines and weathering towards the same colour!
The problem is that you need to remove the bulb to see the shape, especially if it is a GU10 in a fitting that needs to be removed from the ceiling to access the bulb.
When we bought our present house the estate agent mentioned that it had energy saving bulbs throughout. In fact many of the rooms had filament GU10 bulbs. But they were relying on statements by the vendors. I went round swapping out those filament bulbs (60W each) with either simple LED ones (tungsten or daylight colour according to preference) or else Philips Hue remote-control bulbs. A bedroom with a 5 * 60 W array of filament bulbs uses
300 W when the lights are on. The only room we've not managed to convert is an ensuite bathroom which for some reason uses 12 V bulbs (each with its own transformer) and has fittings which are virtually impossible to rewire because they are so close to the eaves of the house. We once left those lights on by accident when we went away on holiday and the electricity usage during that time was higher than normal, even though all other electricity usage was much lower because we were away from home.
When we had an EPC survey done for selling our own house, the assessor wrote in her report that the loft was not insulated. I took her to task over this because I knew it was very well insulated, having had to fish a dead rat out of the insulation a few years earlier. I sent her photos take with the aid of a mirror and a light, of the view between the chipboard floor of the loft and the plasterboard ceiling of the rooms below, but she wouldn't change the report because she saw the boarding and immediately thought "can't verify, so assume no insulation". I eventually got her to say "could not verify whether or not loft is insulated" which is a lot better than stating categorically that it is not. I also briefed the estate agent to tell prospective buyers that the loft was insulated, despite the report, and that I could show buyers.
That report had so many errors: she also said that several rooms did not have double glazing, when in fact the only two windows that were not were the front door and a small window between the pantry and an alleyway.
The whole EPC survey was very perfunctory. If I'd seen the errors as she was writing them down, I'd have shown her; getting her to change afterwards with only photos as evidence is harder to persuade that she's wrong.
I would have thought there is a duty of care, and at the very least you could get your money back.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.