UK Landlords urged to comply with Energy Performance Certificate

Posted under Advice by Alan

The UK landlords have been urged by Paragon Mortgages to comply with Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regulation effective October 2008.

It would be legally binding on landlords to show an EPC to prospective tenants while offering a property for rent. Failure to comply will incur a fine and would prevent the landlord from letting. This could result in longer void periods.

Paragon’s trends research revealed that a large number of landlords still did not obtain EPC. The data indicated that a whopping 81% had no EPC for any of their rental property while only 5% were reported having obtained EPC for all of their properties till date.

27% of landlords were planning to get the certificate before October 1, but 54% would like to wait until the expiry of the current agreement. 8% were ready to take a risk by waiting until enforcement officers contacted them regarding an EPC. 11% flatly refused to obtain the EPC for any of their rental properties.

Paragon Mortgage’s M.D. John Heron warned that landlords could not afford to ignore regulations since it would prolong void periods and hoped that more number of landlords would comply with regulation pretty quickly before expiry of 6-months Assured Short-hold Tenancies. He advised landlords to get EPCs before letting property next time.

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