Government extends EPC deadline

At present, all commercial buildings sold or rented after October 1st 2008 must have an EPC. The new measures mean that commercial properties now have until 4 January to obtain an EPC, unless the building is sold or rented before hand.

Independent environmental consultancy Envos has criticised the decision, saying that it is tantamount to an admission that there aren’t enough qualified assessors to undertake the surveys and that more time was required to educate building owners about their responsibilities.

Envos Managing Director, Wade Barker, said: “This decision is not unexpected given the small number of assessors that are currently fully trained. Equally there are still far too many commercial property owners who are unaware of what an EPC is and how they get one, and while there are a few providers like ourselves who have fully trained assessors over the country as a whole there certainly aren’t enough to assess every building before it is marketed and sold by 1 October.”

The 1 October deadline does apply for domestic properties, sales and rentals although we are giving people a reasonable amount of time to get their EPCs.

Government spokesman

A Government spokesman said: “The 1 October deadline does apply for domestic properties, sales and rentals although we are giving people a reasonable amount of time to get their EPCs. Therefore those properties that are already on the market without an EPC will not all suddenly need to get one overnight between the 30 Sept and 1 October. They will need to obtain one from the 1 October but they have until January to get it."

The spokesman also refuted the idea that the extension was due to a lack of assessors, suggesting that many assessors had previously complained of a lack of work.