Many landlords are violating the law of EPCs.

According to a research, there are a million rental houses in England and Wales without an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), and tens of thousands of landlords are breaching the law.

Since the Energy Performance of Buildings 2012 Act, all buildings advertised for rental in England and Wales must have an EPC in place. An EPC offers ratings to show a property’s relative energy performance and environmental effect.

Around 7.98 million houses in England are rented and need an EPC, which represents a 37% rental rate (17% social, 20% private).

However, according to research by housing technology company Spec, only 6.3 million EPCs have been filed for rentals, meaning that around 1 million residences are being rented unlawfully without EPCs.

The investigation also discovered that owing to improper floor measuring methods, Domestic Energy Assessors gave homes a higher score than they should have, resulting in a total of 15% of EPCs—or 2.5 million—being wrong.

No of the tenant status, all domestic rental units must have an E rating or better as of 1 April 2020.

For each further three months that a residential property is determined to be below standard, penalties up to a maximum of £5,000 may be assessed. During this period, tenants cannot be removed on the grounds of a failed EPC, and the property cannot be rented out again until it meets standards.

Additionally, landlords can receive a “name and shame” public penalty notice.

Senior adviser for Spec Antony Browne stated: “Our investigation demonstrates that it’s really not an issue of whether or how much your EPC is calculated erroneously. Inaccurate EPCs provide significant dangers and problems to the environment as well as to customers, real estate brokers, and property professionals.

It indicates that tens of thousands of landlords unknowingly rent out their houses, putting them at risk of hefty fines for no fault of their own.