Recent Legislation

The gas registration scheme moved from CORGI to the Gas Safe Register on 1st April 2009. Details about the new gas registration scheme can be found at the Gas Safe Register

New Regulations protect consumers when buying products and services from traders visiting them at home or work etc. Customers now have seven days to change their mind. Previously, they only had these cancellation rights if a trader's visit was not pre-arranged.

Businesses will need to make changes to their sales contracts to comply with the law. Companies that fail to comply with the regulations will not be able to enforce their contracts, and will be breaching the law which could lead to prosecution and fines.

In addition the following sales practices are specifically banned :-

It is important that all businesses begin to review their business practices thoroughly to ensure that they do not fall foul of the new rules.

For more information, please see our advice leaflet including suggested forms - Sales at a Consumer's Home  

The legislation referred to above is:-

Energy Performances Certificates tell owners and potential buyers and tenants about the energy efficiency of a home and how it can be improved. They come with a recommendation report which includes advice and suggestions on improvements you could make to save money and energy. The certificate also shows the rating that could be achieved if all the recommendations are followed.

A landlord must provide an Energy Performance Certificate whenever a home in the social or private rented sector is let to a new tenant.

The certificate is only required for a property which is self-contained. It is not required when a tenant rents a room and shares facilities, if a tenant has a separate contract with the landlord.

The EPC and recommendation report must be made available free of charge by a landlord to a prospective tenant at the earliest opportunity and no later than:

EPCs are valid for 10 ten years and can be reused as many times as required within that period. If a newer EPC is produced within the ten year period, only the most recent one is valid.

All new homes need to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) provided on completion of construction.

In the case of new homes the recommendation report will be shorter as most money-saving improvements will have already been included in the design.

It is the responsibility of the builder to provide an EPC. This will also apply if a building is converted into fewer or more units and changes are made to the heating, hot water provision or air conditioning/ventilation services.

When the home is physically complete, the builder must obtain an EPC for the home, provide the EPC to the new owner of the home and notify the local authority building control officers or approved inspectors that this has been done. This must be done no later than the time specified by the building regulations. Building regulations include standards for the energy performance of new homes which builders must adhere to in order to comply with building regulations.

Once building control are satisfied the EPC has been properly produced and provided to the relevant party, they are able to issue a final completion certificate. A  final completion certificate for a home cannot be issued by building control unless they are satisfied that an EPC has been provided.

If the completed home is being advertised for sale, the EPC is available for potential buyers for the next 3 years.

If you are selling a home before it has been built, you will need to provide information about energy efficiency in a Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA). This is simply the predicted Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) and Environmental Impact (CO2) rating from the SAP calculations you do at the design stage to check whether you will meet energy-saving targets. You can use a spreadsheet template to create the graphics from the SAP rating. There is no need for PEAs to be produced by an accredited assessor and they do need to have a recommendation report.

The seller is responsible for ensuring a certificate is made available to all prospective purchasers at the earliest opportunity.

The Energy Performance Certificate and recommendation report must be made available free of charge by the seller to a prospective buyer at the earliest opportunity and no later than:

An EPC does not have to be made available if:

Homes sold without marketing for sale e.g. by private treaty between family members or Local Authority housing require an EPC.

The only person who is able to produce an Energy Performance Certificate is an accredited energy assessor.

Further guidance and information on EPC’s can be found at Directgov