UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello there 

If a rental property EPC expires, does this need to be renewed even if the tenant has lived in the property when the EPC was valid/in-date?

My tenant has been living at the property for a few years so knows the energy performance (energy rating D), and was also provided with a certificate before signing the tenancy agreement a few years back, so don't really think there is any need to re-new this document if I don't have to, as nothing would have changed?

Am I correct here or completely missing the point?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

The EPC is valid for 10 years from when it was issued. If you have major energy efficiency improvements made to the property in the mean time then you can opt to have it re- assessed .

Thanks for the reply cb1963..

I understand it is valid for 10 years from date of issue, what I dont undertstand, is do I need the EPC renewed if the existing tenant is still living at the property and no change has occured with regards to energy performace?

The new EPC will come back exactly the same as the expired one (which the tenant has possession of).

Thanks

I do not know for sure. But my understanding, and reading of legislation, is that a current EPC must have been presented to the Tenant, especially if you are to successfully serve a Section 21 Notice under the new rules. Now, you don't have a new Tenant and you don't have a new tenancy, and nothing has changed, so you might be thinking it's all much of a muchness and a giant waste of time... especially if the new rules don't apply to you, I guess.

You would be right... but they're cheap, so I'd go about getting it done anyway. Isn't the life of a Landlord filled with many giant wastes of time? Yes. It is. Move on, it's time to groove on...

Thanks for the reply Hippogriff!

Yeah, think I will bite the bullet and have a new EPC Assessment carried out. Its not expiring for another 6 months or so, I was just curious when I saw the expiry date was fast approaching, what I need to do.

You could even do some 'stuff' to the house... like install LED bulbs throughout (obviously a Tenant responsibility in the norm) and try to get the rating up to make it more attractive?

No need, of course... but it could make it seem a bit more worthwhile (in your mind)?

You technically dont need to do anything as from your post it seems you tenancy started some time ago and more importantly it is ongoing.

Note however there is some lack of clarity by 1st October 2018.
At that point "the new rules" introduced by s33-40 Deregulation Act 2015 pertaining to the serving of notices (EPC, Right to Rent etc) as pre-requisite to serving a s21 will apply to all tenancy agreements.

At this point you will be at the mercy of the county court judge looking at your s21 application as to whether he will expect an EPC to have been served even if technically the tenancy started before the Deregulation Act 2015 first came into force (never mind before Oct 2018) so suggest you play safe.

Short story get the EPC sorted before 1st Oct 2018 and make sure you serve it on the tenant.
£40 not a big deal (claimable against income tax so even less).

Best of luck.

Hippogriff... Good idea! Thanks for that.. at least improving the EPC values will be worth (sort of) the money paid for the service, and also a more attractive property (from an energy perspective) if I need to attract new tenants in the future! 

Theangrylandlord... Thanks for the reply. The EPC was served at tenancy start, but just expires in the near future.. and with no energy performance improvements been completed for the property, I thought the expired (expiry date has passed) EPC could possibly be left as is, and will not need renewal..

Sorry if my post wasn't clear.

"The EPC was served at tenancy start, but just expires in the near future.. and with no energy performance improvements been completed for the property, I thought the expired (expiry date has passed) EPC could possibly be left as is, and will not need renewal.."

Yes you are correct, strictly speaking you do not need to do anything so long as you do not let to a new tenant.

What I was trying to say (perhaps not well) is if you appear before a judge post 1 Oct 2018 there is enough ambiguity in the law that the judge could well say your EPC has expired so no valid s21 for you.   
It should not be that way and the judge would be wrong (but I would say that!) but Ive seen things not even get to the judge when paperwork is supposedly awry.