Since 2008 in England and Wales, Energy Performance Certificates (EPC's) have been mandatory for the selling or renting of properties. The law around EPC's was tightened up in 2018 EPC's have become more stringent and if properties do not meet certain standard then it is illegal to let them on a new lease.
This situation is going to become tighter in 2023 when it will be illegal to continue with a letting if the property does not meet a certain standard, despite the fact that the lease itself commenced before the more stringent standard came in to place. This I think is going to become a serious bone of contention and will make a lot of work for the legal profession. But how is an EPC assessed, and why do I say “fact or fiction”?
As readers know, I don’t normally stray into residential property unless it is part of a commercial transaction, but recently I was at a fairly modern house undertaking a “Level 2” style survey. I was provided with a copy of the EPC and I was frankly horrified. I am quite aware that the fees for undertaking EPC’s are not great, and to undertake extensive investigation is uneconomic and also potentially intrusive. However, the property in question was described as having cavity wall insulation (assumed), pitched roof insulation (assumed), the flat roof area was assumed to have insulation, the roof rooms were assumed to have insulation, it was assumed there was no insulation to the solid ground floor or and the suspended timber first floor was not mentioned – nor was the suspended timber floor in part of the ground floor. The roof rooms will have had no insulation because there were no roof rooms and when I entered the loft void (via a drop-down ladder, so it wouldn’t have been difficult) – there was around 50mm of fibre glass insulation – the recommended minimum now is 270mm if glass wool is used. So frankly the EPC was completely wrong and invalid.
In my view, professionals are entitled to make reasonable assumptions in whatever work they are undertaking. However, the adage used by detractors “to assume makes an ass out of you and me” can sometimes be true – and I think in this case it definitely was. Is the solution to accept that EPC assessors should be better trained and better paid so that they take more care with their reports to make them more meaningful?
I have used an example of an EPC assessor because it is close to home, but is this a general problem in the country (and indeed worldwide)? Do we expect certain workers to work for too little money and expect too much from them for that? The obvious other example to cite is lorry drivers – there is a huge shortage of lorry drivers especially in Britain at the moment and this may be caused by a lack of pay. According to the job site Indeed, the average bus driver and the average lorry driver earns around £24,000 per annum. I have to say that I think I undertook more training to get my qualifications as a surveyor (and also as an auctioneer) but my job does not mean total concentration on one subject (the road ahead) for 40 hours a week, when surrounded by other road users, sometimes of questionable mental capacity. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a 40 foot long articulated lorry or a 30 foot long bus, either carrying 30 tons or so of goods or 70 or so passengers, for that sort of money. It may not be highly skilled, but would you really want to shovel unmentionables in the toilets after a night shift in a pub for National Minimum Wage as a pub cleaner?
I think we need to look at how we value people financially – but also emotionally – and maybe we will all have to pay a little more to get these people appropriate pay. I am really a capitalist with a conscience, and so I do believe in the “Free Market”, I do think the time has come to look at increasing the bottom level of pay for some of these people. After all, if 1,000,000 people saw their pay increase by just £20 per week, the extra National Insurance would be around £5,000,000 per annum including employees’ and employers’ contributions without the extra money circulating the economy attracting tax on purchases in a positive trajectory benefitting everyone.
