Up to now holiday homes have been excluded from the need for an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). However from 30th June 2011 new guidance regarding holiday lets takes effect. It states that an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) must be obtained for all properties that are rented out as holiday lets. Whilst many landlords might resist the requirement to obtain an EPC they may also miss out on hidden benefits. I explain more.

Many people believe that an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is the pair of multi-coloured graphs showing the energy efficiency of a property. To those selling or letting a property an EPC is seen as an un-necessary cost and administrative burden delaying their activity. To prospective home buyers and those renting property they are often simply the final page of the Agents particulars; viewed as being less important than the size of the spare room!

Andrew Morphet of Synergy Property Services Ltd tells us an EPC is an important document that should be helping people make decisions about the house they buy or which office to rent: “Many Estate and Lettings Agents are not much wiser about the nature and content of an EPC than the consumers and clients with whom they interact: This is very frustrating.”