If you’re looking to sell your house fast, the Energy Performance rating can have a huge effect on the value and thanks to new legislation it may even become illegal to put it on the market. Our guide on how to sell an Unmodernised Epc Rated F or G house explains it all.

If you want to sell an unmodernised EPC rated F or G house, you’ll want to read this before making a move, and find out how we can help you.

What is an EPC?

What is an EPC or energy performance certificate? In short an EPC is an asset rating that tells you how energy efficient your property currently is and what sort of impact it has on the environment.

To sell an unmodernised EPC rated F or G house can be tough. A poor EPC rating suggests low energy efficiency, which makes the energy bills of that property a lot more expensive.

Prospective buyers are less likely to consider properties with a low EPC rating due to the cost, particularly since rising energy prices are an ever growing issue.

How is an EPC rating measured?

The energy performance of your property is determined and measured on a scale of A-G, A being the most energy efficient a building can be. The average in the UK for an existing property is usually around a D rating although anything lower than this means your CO2 footprint starts to increase, along with the bills.

If you’ve inherited a property, or you need a quick house sale and have a low EPC rating – the chances of a fast traditional sale are slim and you’re more likely to have the house on the market for years, rather than weeks.

Read on to find out what you can do if you’re stuck in this situation, and how Property Saviour can help you.

Energy Performance Certificate Regulations

An EPC is legally required every time a home is put up for sale or for rent. Whether you have an estate agent or not, you must provide an Energy Performance Certificate for the property.

 The certificate must be issued by an energy performance certificate assessor who is accredited to produce them for the category of building concerned.

Upon a sale, you will be asked to produce an Energy Performance Certificate and indeed, you can be fined if you do not produce one.

Energy Performance Certificate Validity: Does an Energy Performance Certificate expire?

The certificate will then be valid for 10 years, then it will expire. After this time, you’ll need to organise for an EPC assessor to visit your property, which costs around £60. There’s a national register of EPCs, unless you’ve opted out, where you can take a look at your property’s previous certificates (as well as viewing similar properties in your area for a comparison of how energy efficient your home is).

Energy Performance Certificate Commercial: Is an Energy Performance Certificate required for commercial properties?

If you own a commercial property, you also need to have an EPC if any of the following applies to you:

• You rent out or sell your premises.
• A building under construction is completed.
• Changes are made to the parts of the building for separate occupation, involving any changes or additions to heating, air and ventilation systems.

What happens if I have a low EPC rating?

If you’re trying to sell an unmodernised EPC rated F or G house, then as we’ve mentioned, it’s not great news.

In this situation, you’ll find it difficult to sell your property, as why would anyone want to move into a home and pay high energy bills?

Homes with poor energy performance could even be banned from the sales market, with owners having to upgrade them before being allowed to sell them.

The call has come from the Committee on Climate Change and could affect at least 1.2m homes with EPC ratings of F and G.

As with the changes about to be phased in for rental properties from this April, owners would have to upgrade their properties to at least band E.

How can we help if you have a low Energy Performance Certificate rating?

A lot of sellers we’ve worked with have come to us with low EPC ratings, and we’ve offered the same advice we’re about to give you now.

We understand that sometimes you need a speedy house sale and don’t have the time or the money to wait patiently for your house to sell through the local estate agents. In addition, if the new laws come into practice – you won’t even be allowed to sell an unmodernised EPC rated F or G house this way.

Because of this, we get a lot of questions from sellers about taking their low EPC rated homes to auction.

What do we advise? We say absolutely not. Auctions, whilst they seem great on the surface, are time consuming, very expensive, and can never guarantee a house sale – never mind a fast one.

You’re also likely to lose out on a lot of money, as the auctioneers will often suggest a low reserve price to entice more bidders. Do you really want that?

For more information on auction sales, our guide to selling at auction, can be read here.

At Property Saviour, we buy any property, including those with low – or no – EPC rating. If your property is rated between E-G, give us a call. We’ll offer you our expert advice, along with a fair price and a 10-day sale – which is the fastest you’ll find – and that’s a guarantee.

Low EPC properties – the cost to upgrade

What are the alternative options? You could consider upgrading your property in order to achieve a higher EPC rating, however if it’s currently below D, it is going to be expensive.

So, what will you need to do?

Insulation is the biggest factor that affects the EPC rating of a property. Double Glazed windows are a must have, and as we all know, these don’t come cheap. Depending on the size of our property having double glazing properly fitted can cost thousands of pounds, and if you try to cut corners and have them fitted cheaply, they are unlikely to do the job and improve your EPC.

Alongside insulation, having a newly fitted boiler is a huge factor that contributes to your overall EPC rating. The cost of a new boiler can be up to £3,000 – which is all money that’s being drained from your pocket.

If you need a quick house sale, upgrading your property is going to be time consuming as well as costly, which is why we advise you to speak to us to discuss all the options and let us guide you through our quick and easy house buying process.

Why should you let us help?

Not only have we helped lots of sellers with low EPC rated properties get a fair deal, we’ve also provided the fastest house sale service – with a 10 day guaranteed sale.

Unlike many house buying firms, we buy properties for ourselves, we do not act for investors, and that’s why there won’t be any contracts to sign.

Trying to sell an unmodernised EPC rated F or G house on your own isn’t easy, and we genuinely want to help you out. When we say we will buy your house, we really mean it! We are here to help. So take that first step. Get your free offer.

We know that selling your house can be a stressful time. We want to change that for you. We charge you no fees. We offer free valuation. We will pay £500 towards your legal fees. and offer free house clearance. On top of this, we’ll beat all genuine cash offers.

We have helped hundreds of sellers to move on. We believe we can help you too. Make an enquiry now.