The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that around 67% of residential properties in England and 65% in Wales (March 2023) currently have a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), a certificate required when a property is built, sold or rented out. EPCs are also required to be submitted by landlords to the Local Authority when the landlord is applying for a licence under a selective licensing scheme.

However, according to a recent Which? policy paper calling for reform of the EPC system, many home energy assessments and their resulting EPCs leave something to be desired and it points out that “There is now considerable evidence that too many EPCs do not provide an accurate assessment of the energy efficiency of a home” and that whilst the government has been continuously reforming EPCs since their inception “efforts have failed to keep pace with the change that is required”.

The EPC tells the consumer (owner occupier, purchaser, landlord or tenant) what, if anything, needs to be done to the property to improve its energy performance, whether that is to reduce carbon emissions or to reduce inefficient and expensive energy use. But, the Which? paper points out that only 36% of the UK population have a sense of what their property’s EPC rating is.

Indeed, it seems every few months there is an article that says there is a problem with inaccurate EPCs. In one example, a consumer who was surveyed stated that the energy assessor failed to note on the EPC that their home used a log burner.

This can be a challenge for many different parties (as noted above) when policy is being made off the back of the assumed accuracy of the EPC data. With the move to improve the overall energy performance of all homes in the UK, financial incentives to consumers, such as energy improvement grants from central government or Local Authorities, are based on EPCs.

At Home Safe, through our property inspection programmes, we support Local Authorities that use Selective Licensing (or HMO and Additional Licensing) schemes, as well as their licensing compliant landlords, by providing evidence of what the EPC says about a given licensed property. Our property compliance inspections verify what is stated on the EPC against what is found in properties – for example, information about the glazing or heating source. We have shown through these inspections that the certificate itself is not necessarily enough when held up against the actual situation inside a property. If the EPCs submitted in the course of making selective licence applications are to have real value they need to be seen to be having an actual impact on desired outcomes such as fuel poverty or emissions reduction. Our inspections can validate that potential for impact.

In the first selective licensing inspection programme that we undertook for Great Yarmouth Borough Council, we identified over 4,000 issues across more than 1,300 properties - including over a third without the legal fire safety requirements. A similar proportion of the properties had damp and mould issues. Whilst you don’t need certificates for these issues, relevant landlords should be taking action given that smoke alarms are both mandatory and save lives. Our experience indicates that certificates are only part of the picture. For example, because there is no national database for gas safety certificates (GSC) a physical inspection is needed to support what is stated on a given GSC. It is only by walking through the door and seeing a property firsthand that an assessment can be made and a resulting outcome can be achieved.

By utilising a Home safe inspection regime within a selective licensing designation, a Local Authority is better enabled to tackle fuel poverty and to efficiently use grants to improve its housing stock and the lives of its communities. This is a result of the authority having a better understanding of the property mix in its area using a real-world perspective whereby local authority officers can see directly what the issues are and how they are affecting the community.

A valid EPC, as well as other documentation required by the licensing regime, can also be viewed through a Home Safe dashboard, which enables council officers to see certificate dates and whether they are expired or not. This provides real-time knowledge to officers and facilitates intervention, where necessary, in the worst cases and to direct grants and support to the households who are most in need.

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