Important update on EPC regulation changes from 6 April 2012

22nd March 2012

As you may be aware there are a number of changes to the EPC regulations due to come into force on 6th April 2012. As a reminder they include:

1. The EPC will be required within 7 days of the commencement of marketing rather than the current 28 days.
2. Trading Standards Officers (TSOs) are to be given more powers to require provision on request of the EPC from Agents and Owners. For example they can require provision of evidence an EPC has been ordered if a property is being marketed without one.
3. Agents in both the residential and commercial market will now also be responsible for ensuring the EPC is available as well as the property owner (currently this is not the case in the commercial market).
4. The requirement to add the first page of the EPC to the sales particulars rather than just the EPC graphs which is currently the case

 

The look of the EPC is also to change but this will be introduced from 1st April 2012. To see what the new EPC looks like please click here

With regard to including the first page with written particulars unfortunately the DCLG has not released any further guidance until now, three weeks before implementation. It is safe to say however that they are determined for this to happen regardless of the problems it will cause. Follow this link to view the document released by the DCLG just last week on how Agents will be able to retrieve versions of the EPC that can be attached to their particulars.

The guidance document they have provided is fairly detailed so to summarise:

1. EPCs will be able to be retrieved in a format which will allow it to be printed and attached to written particulars from the new Landmark system. Although it is not 100% clear it is likely that this retrieval system will be accessed through the following website: www.epcregister.com
2. You will be required to register and can then download reports using the RRN number which is found on each EPC we send out
3. For sensitive commercial sales an EPC without the address included can be downloaded but this will cost £0.50+VAT per download

 

Unsurprisingly the DCLG have not thought through the potential issues with brochure set up but it seems that they are happy for the EPC to be printed and attached separately rather than being built into the brochure which may help avoid most formatting issues. It is also intended that Agency software providers will link with Landmark to produce this one page PDF automatically as soon as is technically possible. However before this happens and for our clients who do not use software we are happy to download and send across the single page of the EPC to save you the time if we are allowed by Landmark.

If you have any questions or require further information please do not hesitate to contact us

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