|
|
New EPC Rules cause confusion |
 |
10th April 2012
 Agents who have been told that, since last Friday, they must attach the front page of the EPC to all their property particulars, have been left scratching their heads in frustration. It has proved impossible to extract the required page, meaning that they have no choice but either to attach the full EPC document, or to do each one manually by a process of printing off and scanning.
Landmark, the private firm owned by the Daily Mail which runs the EPC database, has told agents that the ability for them to automatically select the front page of the EPC and attach it to property details will not be available until June. Smaller agents will be able to upload the first page manually, larger agents say that this will be almost impossibly time-consuming.
The difficulty appears to be that Landmark’s EPCs are non-editable PDF documents which have been ‘locked’, making extraction of just one page impossible.
Nick Salmon said: “This is a farce.” He says that attaching the full EPC will inevitably add many more extra pieces of paper to the process – despite the fact that the whole point of EPCs is supposedly ‘green’. Salmon said it had proved virtually impossible to get technical information out of Landmark. He said: “The Landmark helpdesk is an oxymoron. They are utterly clueless about the changes.” He said he felt that Landmark had been given totally insufficient guidance from the Government department concerned, CLG. He said that the system so far allowed three options: to generate and retrieve the full residential EPC; to download the full commercial EPC; and to generate the first page only of a commercial EPC. Salmon said: “Surely, it was clear well before last Friday that one of the options was missing.”
Queries to Landmark from EAT have been deflected to CLG, but our request for an update has not been acknowledged. Software firms are acknowledging the problem and, for example, both Niche and KeyAGENT have come up with solutions allowing the front page of the EPC to be detached. While agents potentially now face £200 penalties for marketing sales and rental properties without EPCs, many have voiced their disquiet – whilst making it clear that they will not, if they can help it, break the rules.
However, CLG has not yet clarified whether EPCs must be made available within seven/21 or 28 days, or made available on viewings – so far it has said both. Agents have also raised queries as to how far local Trading Standards will be able to police the situation.
In another twist, many portals issued releases to their members advising that the first page of the EPC did not need to appear on their sites, a fact which was incorrect as only newspaper advertising and window cards were exempt. It remains unclear how many agents will comply with these new regulations and how many will simply ignore their obligations in the belief that policing is unlikely due to the lack of clarity.
Bushells believes that irrespective of our views on the Law, we cannot opt out and as such have amended our software feeds to ensure proper compliance. In doing so, it must be noted that despite the levels of business we conduct, seldon does a buyer or tenant show the slightest interest in an EPC. It is European legislation which is imposed upon us, but oddly, on a recent staff trip to Brussels, it was amusing to see a total absence of this document in any agents office.
|
property search
valuation request
|
