IMPORTANT NEWS FOR ALL OWNERS REGARDING

ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES

As Evans Bros are currently acting as your agents, we wish to inform you of recent changes in the law which will certainly affect most homeowners currently trying to sell.

The Government has recently decided that as of 1st October 2008 ALL properties being offered for sale in the UK will be required to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regardless of when the property came for sale. If you have already got a Home Information Pack (HIP) you do not need to act, as your HIP will already automatically include the EPC.

The EPC is a survey (which can only be prepared by a qualified Energy Assessor) which measures the energy efficiency of a property (it will give an A-G energy efficiency rating similar to those found on new products such as fridges etc) and includes an Environmental Impact Rating which measures the amount of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) produced by your property. The regulations say that the EPCs will now last for 3 years, so if your property is still for sale in 3 years you will need to pay for a new EPC. These ratings (which must be displayed on our sales particulars) will give the current reading and the highest possible reading achievable by the property, and are standard so that buyers can directly compare the energy efficiency of one property with another. It is generally felt that acting on the recommendations in the EPC will cut energy consumption, save money on bills and help to safeguard the environment.

Owners who put their property for sale before the relevant dates will not be required at this time to get a full Home Information Pack on their place (although the rules on this may well change in future) and will NOT have to stop marketing the property while the EPC is being prepared.

The regulations make it clear that that the responsibility to arrange these EPCs lies with the owners and NOT THE AGENT. The fine for property owners not complying will be £200 per property, enforceable via local Trading Standards officers.

The survey should not take long and will need to be arranged directly with a Home Energy Assessor of which there will be a number in the local Yellow Pages. For convenience however, we have given you the telephone numbers for 3 local Energy Assessors, although of course you can use any approved Energy Assessor. When instructing the Assessor, could you please ask them to e-mail a copy of the EPC to cambell.evans@evansbros.co.uk  - I will make sure that it is forwarded to the relevant Evans Bros office handling your file. If you have your property for sale with more than one agent, you will obviously need to make sure that all the agents are informed of the results of the survey. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the relevant Evans Bros office.

Carmarthen:  01267 236611.    Llanybydder:  01570 480444

Lampeter:  01570 422395    Aberaeron:   01545 570462