EPC

EPC (UK only)

As of 6th April 2012, it is a legal requirement to have ordered an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) before a property is advertised (sales & lettings) and to have a copy of the EPC available to Applicants within 7 days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLJYXje53bk

Once an EPC has been ordered and received back from an approved Energy Assessor it should be attached to the relevant Property in Acquaint.

View an EPC

From a Property click Services and the EER charts should be displayed. The View button will load the EPC certificate record for the Property.

Add an EPC (for Scotland see below)

Use either of these methods to add an EPC:

The simplest way

1. From a Property click Services against. Note the Property must have been saved first before an EPC can be added.

2. Click the Attach button and this will load a list of current EPCs that match the postcode of the property. Acquaint will try to automatically highlight the correct Property in the list based on the address of the Property. Please note for flats, apartments and commercial Properties you may need to double check the correct Property has been highlighted before clicking the Select button.

3. Once an EPC has been successfully downloaded, a Certificate record is created and attached to the property.

4. Once an EPC has been added to the property, the EER chart will is displayed on the Services section of the Property. Please note, with the current EPC format the EIR chart no longer exists.

5. An EPC record will be saved in Certificates and the EPC will be stored as an .HTML  against the Certificate's Correspondence.

or

1. From the Services screen of the Property click Add/Edit Certificates.

2. From the Certificates screen click Menu -> New. For Type select Energy Performance Certificate.

3. Click Save

4. Click Attach to select the EPC.

5. Click Save or Save and Close.

If for any reason Acquaint cannot read the values from the EPC  you will need to enter these manually in the Certificate and EPC Details fields respectively.

Acquaint will automatically extract the unique 20 digit Report Reference Number (RRN) and the Expiry Date from the EPC document. For the Issuer field Acquaint will look for Contractors with the assessor's email address. If it doesn't find one it will look for a match on the domain name of the assessor's email address.

• Floor area can now be imported when attaching an EPC. This is switched on by default but can be turned off via File -> Configuration -> Site/Branch -> Property Management ->EPC Import Property Floor Area.

• Merge fields are available for the EPC web link available for emails (PropertyEPCTextWebLink) and letters/SMS text templates (PropertyEPCWebLink).

Add an EPC (for Scotland only)

Use either of these methods to add an EPC:

1. From the Services screen of the Property, from the Energy Performance section click the Attach button. Before valuing a Property you can search for an existing EPC by using the Find button which links to the EPC Register.

2. From the Correspondence screen of the Property, right click on the grid or click the Menu button, then select Attach Document -> Property EPC.

If Acquaint cannot read the values from the EPC document you will need to enter these manually in the Certificate Expiry, Energy Efficiency and Environmental Impact fields respectively.

In both cases Acquaint will automatically extract the unique 20 digit Report Reference Number (RRN) and the Expiry Date from the EPC document, and then attach it so that it appears on the Correspondence screen.

When producing Property Particulars, the first page of the EPC can be automatically attached to the last page of the Particulars. The Attach EPC setting is found within each Property Particular Template.

Home Page Renewal Reminders

EPC renewal reminders on the Home Page show where EPCs are required or expiring shown separately for Sales and Lettings Properties.

A 'Let Properties EPC's Expiring provides a count of Properties where an EPC is expiring and the Property is Let/Completed'. This is to help with Section 21 orders since a valid EPC is required before issuing a Section 21 and as a Tenant may still be in situ, this shows reminders for Completed Let Properties with an EPC Expiring. "From 1st October 2015 for new tenancies starting on or after that date Landlords have to provide the EPC to tenants before they can rely on a section 21 notice" Source: RLA.

Property EPCs required looks at Available and Under Offer Properties which do not have an EPC.

Low EPC/Minimum EPC Rating

From April 2018, private rental properties must have a minimum EPC rating of E or it will be illegal to rent them to tenants. This applies to new tenancies and renewals. In April 2020, the rule will be extended to incorporate all private rentals. Properties with a EPC rating of F or G will either need to be taken off the market after this date or improvements implemented.

By attaching EPCs to your Properties in Acquaint you can keep track Properties with Low EPC Ratings from the Home Page.

EPC Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) Exception Certificate

For Properties which are exempt from having to meet the EPC minimum Energy Efficiency you can add an EPC Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) Exception Certificate. This will ignore the Property from the Low EPC Home Page Reminder. The MEES Exemption Certificate defaults to five years and the EPC Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards Expiring Reminder will alert when it is reaching it's expiration.

When saving a Tenancy Checkout for a Property with an EPC Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards Exception certificate a warning message will be displayed informing the User that there is an active certificate.