Can an EPC be wrong?

[Rambos]

Hi everyone,

Hoping for some help. I'm looking at a property but the EPC has been graded G and been allocated 1 point out of the max points.

A little bit about the property: top floor flat, pitched roof/brick construction so assumed no insulation, double glazing, electric heating. 

I got a bit nosey so looked up every other EPC in the building and there were 2 others (who scored higher than 1) out of 15 that were a G but had single glazing and the other top floor flats all were well above E. I wondered if anyone had any experience of having an incorrect EPC score and how did you go about it. Is it just luck of the drawer who you get to assess the property? Any advice much appreciated!

Danni

[paulrybak]

It'll likely have had a drive by EPC done where there was no access to the building internally, hence all the assumptions. 

[Rambos]

On 2/9/2019 at 1:44 PM, dennis hughes said:

Have you looked at the detailed epc report? Comparing that to the ones rated higher may give some clues.

https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressTerms.html?redirect=reportSearchAddressByPostcode

Thanks for the reply! Many of them seem to say the same thing but the marking of each is different, for example the one I'm looking at got 3/5 for the double glazing but the flat below got 4/5 for the same glazing, another top floor flat got 5/5 for the roof/walls being assumed insulated. I'm wondering if it's luck of the draw who you get and if they actually stepped foot inside.

[Rambos]

On 2/10/2019 at 9:06 AM, paulrybak said:

It'll likely have had a drive by EPC done where there was no access to the building internally, hence all the assumptions. 

Thanks for the reply. I did wonder that - are they allowed to do that? I actually called the chap who did the report and he couldn't remember the property so I was reading it out to him and even asked how it scored 1/100 when not every category was 1/5. I'd expect 1 if it had no windows!

[paulrybak]

There's no other way to do it if you can't gain access inside the building. 

[Rambos]

On 2/22/2019 at 1:01 AM, richard brown said:

Yes, they can be wrong: http://sco.lt/8u7pIW

I suggest that you simply commission a new one, assuming you believe it will rate as E or better, or if not, do any work and then commission an updated EPC at that time instead.

R

Thanks Richard! I did read recently that the algorithm had changed to give a better score to solid brick.