A new and controversial petition has been launched in Britain, in an attempt to force the Government to remove energy performance certificates in residential properties.
The petition has been started on the back of the UK voting to leave the European Union following last month’s vote.
EPC’s
Energy Performance Certificates, or EPC’s, were introduced in 2007, following the Housing Act 2004. This made it a mandatory requirement for an energy assessment to be made on all properties listed for sale in the UK. Later, this was applied to all rental properties.
This measure was introduced in order to comply with a European Directive. EPC’s have been seen as a bureaucratic consequence of being a member of the EU.
Inspections and subsequent issues of Energy Performance Certificates amount to a cost of roughly £100m to sellers and landlords per year. Protestors argue that the energy rating generated through an EPC is of little assistance to buyers or sellers and has not proven to reduce energy consumption, as was the intention of the European Commission.
Petition is launched to try and scrap Energy Performance Certificates
Petition
Russell Quirk, Chief Executive Officer of hybrid estate agent eMoov, has launched the petition to try and get EPC’s scrapped. This, he believes, will streamline the home moving process and save the country millions.
Quirk noted, ‘this petition will be the first shot to be fired by the property industry in achieving swift benefit from the EU exit. I have launched this national petition in order to get rid of EPC’s and the unnecessary cost to the consumer of paying for them. When introduced as part of the failed Home Information Park in 2007 they were widely criticised as pointless and wasteful by the property industry.’[1]
Mr Quirk has contacted Housing Minister Brandon Lewis for his support.
Concluding, Quirk said, ‘thousands of inspectors have had to be trained and then re-trained under adapted legislation, forced upon us by an EU directive that, now that we have voted for Brexit, can be unwound. EPC’s are of no benefit to anyone and have created a bureaucratic burden on home sellers, landlords and estate agents.’[1]
[1] http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/uk-2016071412144.html