Property management services are the services offered by a property manager to both, owner and tenant. These services include inspecting the property in-depth and evaluate its worth as compared to other properties in that area and suggest rents accordingly. Marketing of the property is another major objective of the management services. The manager must also perform screening of the tenants and make sure that the rent is paid on time. The manager also serves to help tenants in moving into the apartment. The property manager also deals with financial and legal issues. Improving the EPC rating of the building is another service provided by the property managers.
What is an EPC Rating?
EPC stands for Energy Performance Certificate and it shows the efficiency of a certain building. EPC shows the cost of heat and light of the building. It also shows how much carbon dioxide emissions will be released from the building. EPC is required whenever a building is built, rented, or sold and it also suggests improvements for improving the efficiency of the building or improve EPC rate of the building. EPC is usually very helpful for buyers and renters to evaluate how much their light and heat bills will cost in the future in their new house.
EPC ratings UK are carried by EPC assessors or Domestic Energy Assessors. These assessors perform a survey of the house and evaluate its efficiency before issuing an EPC. According to the survey results, the house is rated in bands depending upon its energy efficiency. The bands are from A to G with A being the most efficient with the cheapest bills whereas the G is the least efficient with the most expensive energy bills. The EPC lasts for 10 years starting from the date it has been issued.
EPC rating majorly depends on the energy use per m² and yearly carbon dioxide emissions in tons. So, if you want to improve your EPC rating, you now know where you need to focus.
How to Improve Your EPC Rating?
Anyone may wonder why it is important to improve EPC rating of a building. It is because the least efficiency suggests warmer homes and higher energy costs. You can simply make your home cooler more affordable by working to improve EPC rating of your home. Houses with higher efficiency are preferred for renting and buying over the houses that have lower efficiency. Here in this article, some of the easy and quick ways are discussed that you can practice to make your home homelier and improve its EPC rating.
Use Energy-Efficient Bulbs
To improve EPC rating you need to work on every small detail of your house. Switching light bulbs from halogen light bulbs to (energy efficient) low energy lighting (LEL) bulbs or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are a great way to improve EPC rating. It is a cost-effective method as you can save up to £50 per light bulb exchanged by efficient light bulbs. In addition, it is environmentally friendly as it saves a lot of energy and these energy-efficient bulbs are also better for health.
Keep your House from the Draught
Use draught excluders around the windows and sealants at the floorboards to keep your house safe from draught. It is also an efficient method to improve EPC rating of your house. You can either do it yourself or for a better job you can call professionals.
Cavity Insulation
You can save almost 35% of your house’s heat if you have done cavity wall insulation in your house. It also saves up to 30% of your bills coming from heating sources. It can make a significant improvement in your EPC ratings, most of which also depends on other house properties including the area of a floor, and number of walls exposed, etc.
Loft Insulation
Loft insulation is the cheapest and also an efficient way for improving EPC rating of the building. When a property is not insulated it can lose almost 25% of its energy which decreases its efficiency and increases its energy cost. 270mm is the recommended level of insulation for your loft to keep your home either cold or warm according to your needs.
Insulating your loft can add about 20 points to your EPC if the building was previously uninsulated. But, if the building was priory insulated and you still added a topping of loft insulation to it, you can gain more points for it.
Change your Inefficient Old Boilers
If your current boiler is inefficient and only scores 1-2 stars on your EPC rating then it’s time to change your inefficient old boiler. Usually, it can drastically improve EPC rating, old boilers are only 65% efficient and these can make your rating at G band but new boilers can make a huge difference by making your rating at E band.
Switch to Renewable Technologies
Renewable technologies are cost-effective and also efficient for improving EPC rating of the house. These technologies are provided by the government which means that you need to pay fewer rates for these technologies as compared to the other conventional heating systems.
Glaze your Property’s Windows
To keep the energy loss from the windows, you need to double glaze or triple glaze the windows of your apartment. It does not have a significant impact on the EPC rating as loft insulation but it can save heat and energy loss. A property without double glazed windows does not usually qualify for the EPC ratings nowadays. New double glazed windows can add about 5-10 points to your EPC ratings.
Conclusion
Higher EPC ratings are very important for you if you want to sell or rent your house. In this document, several different ways are discussed through which you can save your heating cost as well as improve the EPC rating of your building. A house with higher EPC is more likely to be selected for renting or buying than a house with bad EPC ratings, so keep this in mind and make sure that you insulate your home properly so that no energy is wasted in the form of heat.
