Petition to reduce the validity period of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) from the current ten year validity period to one year.

The Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors (IDEA) and HousingEnergyAdvisor.com petitions the Government to immediately reduce the validity period of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) from the current 10 year validity period to a reduced period of 1 year for properties for sale and for rental. We therefore fully support the proposed amendment to the Energy Bill that is currently under consideration by the Government, specifically:- “33CA* Energy Bill (5) For the purposes of subsection (2), an energy performance certificate is only valid if— (a) The certificate relates to a period that is no more than one year from the time that the certificate was issued; and (b) The person required to provide the certificate has no reasonable grounds to suspect that the energy performance information on the certificate is no longer accurate.” We believe that immediate implementation of this amendment will ensure that the public will be in a position to receive accurate and detailed information on property energy saving and that it will allow the public to make informed decisions regarding energy efficiency. By immediately reducing the EPC validity from ten years to a period of no more than one year we believe: a) that this will encourage owners and landlords to improve on the energy efficiency of the UK property stock b) that it will provide accurate information on property stock and energy efficiency to both Local and Central Government allowing for specifically tailored schemes and grants, as well as ensuring accurate feedback as to the successes of these schemes. c) That it will provide accurate information for potential buyers and tenants allowing them to make informed decisions on potential properties. d) That it will support and encourage the growth and development of the energy efficiency business sector including the creation of future jobs. e) That it will encourage and lend value to green incentives and employment, which will directly lead to making significant contributions towards Carbon reduction targets. Based on these factors we respectfully encourage the government to immediately reduce the validity period of the Energy Performance Certificate to 1 year for sale and for rental purposes.