Property Certification
Optimal Property Services pride ourselves in providing a comprehensive national solution for property certification, our professionals are all qualified and accredited and backed by industry leading technology to ensure a fast and high quality service. Optimal’s nationwide team of qualified professionals provide an array of property certification services including energy performance certificates (EPC) both residential and commercial, SAP EPC’s, gas safety certificates, electrical installation condition reports (EICR), asbestos surveys, and fire risk assessments. Our Clientele Our clients’ span from domestic through to commercial/corporate clients ranging from a wide array of industries. We work with estate agencies, property developers, housing associations and local councils in providing EPCs, EICRs amongst other property certification. We also serve homeowners, landlords and small businesses directly. By working with homeowners and small businesses, as well as larger companies, it allows us to take advantage of economies of scale and provide our services at the most competitive price. Domestic EPC An energy performance certificate is a legal certification and requirement when selling or letting a property in the UK. It is unlawful and one could be criminally convicted if letting a property that does not achieve at least an ‘E’ rating on an EPC without an appropriate exemption. To complete a domestic EPC, our energy assessor will legally have to attend the property to undertake the visual survey, complete calculations, collect the relative evidence to back the reading your property achieves and publish the certificate onto the national register. The energy assessor will need access to the full property including the loft (if possible). The assessor will need to inspect heating systems and controls, take measurements, and as mentioned earlier collate photographic evidence of all key data included in the survey. Once submitted on the register, the EPC is valid and will remain there for 10 years. Commercial EPCs Properties that are considered a commercial outlet and not as residential or a dwelling such as shops, hotels and industrial units will require non domestic EPC referred to as a commercial EPC. Before buildings are put on the market either to be sold or let the seller or landlord must instruct a commercial EPC for the building, which needs to be completed before any transaction can take place. We have level 3, 4 and 5 qualified and accredited commercial energy assessors nationally to cover the smallest business outlets through to the largest industrial units. Our business model along with competitive pricing means that we have many regular clients seeking our services consistently to ensure compliance of their property portfolios. SAP EPCs A SAP EPC is required if a property is being built, has been newly built, recently converted or has increased its number of dwellings for example a house being converted into flats. The SAP calculation methodology is the governments guidelines for measuring energy efficiency and CO2 emission rates for newly built or converted residential dwellings. These have to be submitted to the local building control ensuring compliance with Building Regulations Part L. Unlike a domestic EPC a site visit isn’t required for a SAP EPC, it is a desktop based task to be completed by one of our in house qualified SAP energy assessors. The SAP Calculations are then used alongside technical calculations and approved software to generate: Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA) = This is a unofficial EPC which is issued during the design/construction stage if the building is not yet complete. A full SAP EPC = The EPC is issued once the design and construction of the building has been completed, and has now reached a stage to be signed off by building control. Once completed, the SAP EPC falls under the same ruling as a standard EPC, it’s validity is for 10 years and can be used for all property transactions in that time. Display Energy Certificates (DEC) A display energy certificate displays the energy performance of a building based on its actual metered amount of energy consumption recorded over the previous 12 months, within the validity period of the DEC (the operational rating). Similar to other energy certificates DEC ratings are presented on a scale from A to G. With “A” being the lowest CO2 emissions signifying a highly efficient building with the best possible rating, and G being the highest CO2 emissions signifying the least efficient of buildings with the worst possible rating. The thought behind the introduction of DECs is one of raising public awareness to energy use and to inform visitors to public buildings about the energy efficiency of a building. Buildings that are fully or partly occupied and under the control of local authorities that cover a total of 250m squared of useful floor area which are regularly visited by the public fall under the mandatory regulations of having a DEC and advisory report. The advisory report covers the recommendations for improving the buildings energy efficiency. The DEC needs to be displayed in a prominent place that is clearly visible and should be no smaller than A3 in size. Some Types of buildings needing a DEC: Educational (Nurseries, schools, universities) Medical (Hospitals, GP’s, dentists) Similar to a domestic EPC an assessor needs to attend the site to conduct a visual inspection and data gathering exercise. The accessor will also require bills from the occupier. After the first DEC and advisory report have been issued the following year does not require a visit, provided that they are being issued by the same assessor, and a declaration provided by the building occupant that nothing has changed. The DEC and advisory report is lodged on the national register the national register is operated by Landmark. Buildings that cover a total useful floor area of more than 1,000m squared, the DEC is valid for 12 months, and advisory report is valid for seven years. Buildings that cover a total useful floor area of between 250m squared up to 1000m squared, the DEC and advisory report are valid for 10 years. Gas Safety Certificates & Boiler Servicing Optimal Property Services operate a national network of gas safe engineers whom are qualified to provide gas safety certificates (CP12’s) amongst other gas services. Our services are used by letting agents or landlords who have contacted us directly to carry out safety certificates on properties to be rented. The gas safety certificate is required annually in all residential rental property that has mains gas. In order to issue a gas safety certificate all gas appliances would need to be checked including boilers, gas hobs and gas fires. Our network of gas engineers enables us to ensure that whatever the situation we are able to get the service completed as promptly as possible with as little disruption to the landlord, tenant and letting agent. EICRs & PAT Testing Electrical installation condition reports (EICR) are an officially documented report which is produced and issued following an assessment on electrical installations such as a consumer unit, wiring, sockets, and switches etc. This is a thorough check and in most cases valid for 5 years upon it having been issued, however this is dependent upon the age and condition of the installation. During the EICR, the consumer unit better known as a fuseboard, has its wiring and electrical accessories thoroughly tested and inspected for any faults or deviations from the Wiring Standards PAT Test – This is a portable appliance test (PAT) this safety check is carried out on all appliances connected via a plug, be it a television, fridge, lamp etc. PAT testing is recommended to be conducted annually. Maintaining safety of tenants in their home environment is paramount the electrical installation condition report is the ideal way for agents and landlords to monitor and maintain that the electrics within their property portfolio meet the required standards. At Optimal Property Services we have fully qualified electricians carrying out EICRs nationwide for both residential and commercial properties. If you are a letting agent, landlord or anyone looking for electricians to complete EICRs then please do get in touch.