Your home is your castle, but will EPC requirements bring down the battlements

“Adapting Historic Homes for Energy Efficiency: A Review of the Barriers” was published by the Government as a combined departmental initiative on 3rd January.? Its purpose is precisely as described, i.e., to remove barriers and drive energy efficiency in historic homes while preserving and protecting their cultural status and physical aesthetic.

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The Government boasts the laudable progress of almost half of all homes in England now meeting an EPC rating of C or above, up from 14% in 2010.? However, it now wants to see the energy efficiency of historic homes improved as part of the global policy to meet Net Zero by 2050, but without the blight of ugly or inappropriate retrofits.

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Commitments set out in the review include a great deal of consultation and clarifying guidance but there are practical ideas too, including a more streamlined planning process and increasing the quality and reliability of EPC certificates in the face of a general perception that they lack either.

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However, a great number of historic houses are occupied by some of the nation’s wealthiest people who can afford the considerable cost of lagging and replacing windows in a manner approved by English Heritage and undertaken by the sort of artisan craftsmen who appear on their “recommended” list.? Now, I am no expert on this issue, but I suspect there are not enough of such trades folk to undertake this mammoth task.? The wait time and cost will thus be humungous.? And a great number of these historic houses are not all owned by people with the necessary depth of pocket.

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The ultimate consequence may be that owners are not permitted to sell historic properties until they are brought up to a C rating or above, but many owners may not have the time and/or revenue to achieve that.? In turn, this could blight the historic property market thereby pushing down sale prices or leaving such properties unsold and unwanted.?

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If I owned such a property, I would start the process of retrofitting right now while there are people available to do those tasks and at a cost that will be considerable… but considerably less than when regulations are imposed across the country on every such property.

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Luke Weldon is a Partner at Carbon Law Partners specialising in real estate and commercial disputes. You can contact him on [email protected] or 07816 755 372.