Energy Performance Certificates for homes in Coventry and the Midlands

Reviewed October 2026

What an EPC is, and what it tells you

An Energy Performance Certificate rates how much it costs to heat, light and supply hot water to a home, on a scale from A, the most efficient, to G, the least. It sets out the property's energy use and typical energy costs, and it lists the steps that would improve the rating and save money.

The rating comes from a standard calculation, not from your bills. It assumes a typical household so that any two homes can be compared fairly, which is why a certificate stays with the property when the people living in it change.

When you need one

• Selling a home. The EPC has to be ordered before the property is marketed, and buyers are entitled to see it.
• Letting a home. The same applies to a new tenancy. The property must also be band E or better, unless an exemption has been registered.
• Building a home. A new-build needs a certificate on completion. Those are produced from the design data by an on-construction assessor, usually arranged by the builder.

If a valid certificate already exists, you do not need a new one. Check the GOV.UK register first: it is free and shows the rating and the expiry date for any address in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

What happens on the day

The survey is non-invasive. We do not drill, lift floors or move furniture, but we do need to get into every room, the loft, and wherever the boiler and meters live. Most homes take between 30 minutes and 2 hours, depending on size and layout.

This is what we record:

• The age, type and construction of the building, including any extensions
• Measurements of every floor and of each window
• Insulation in the loft, walls and floors, wherever it can be seen or evidenced
• The boiler or heat pump, the radiators and the heating controls
• The hot water cylinder, if there is one
• Doors, fixed lighting, fans, flues and open fireplaces
• Solar panels, battery storage and the type of meters

Two recent changes have made the survey more thorough. Since June 2025 assessors have worked to a more detailed method, known as RdSAP 10, which measures every window and looks more closely at walls and ventilation. Since 1 October 2026 we must also hold photographs, measurements or documents for everything we enter, so that an auditor could reproduce the certificate from our file.

Both make the visit a little longer and the result more accurate. They also mean that paperwork for work nobody can see, such as cavity wall insulation, is worth finding before we arrive.

How to prepare, and the documents worth finding

What you receive

• A certificate lodged on the government's EPC register, valid for 10 years
• A digital copy, ready to pass to your estate agent, solicitor or tenant
• The current rating, and the potential rating if the recommended work were done
• Recommended improvements, listed in the order they should be carried out
• A plain-English note from us on what is holding the rating back

Who we work with

Homeowners who are selling, remortgaging or simply want to know where their home stands. Landlords with one flat or a few hundred, including HMOs. Estate and letting agents who need certificates turned round reliably, with access arranged directly with the occupier. Housing associations and local authorities who need consistent data across their stock.

Landlords and agents with several properties can ask for portfolio pricing. Our landlord guide covers the minimum standards for rented homes, including the move to band C by 2030.

If a home is marketed without one

GOV.UK is blunt about it: you can be fined if you do not get an EPC when you need one. For a home, Trading Standards can issue a fixed penalty of £200. Landlords face much larger penalties for letting a property rated F or G without a registered exemption.

Homes that may not need one

GOV.UK lists these as buildings that do not need an EPC:

• Temporary buildings that will be used for less than 2 years
• Stand-alone buildings with less than 50 square metres of total useful floor space
• Holiday accommodation rented out for less than 4 months a year, or let under a licence to occupy
• Residential buildings intended to be used for less than 4 months a year
• Some buildings that are due to be demolished
• Places of worship, and low-energy industrial sites, workshops and farm buildings

Listed buildings are not automatically exempt. The exemption applies only where meeting the minimum energy requirements would unacceptably alter the building's character or appearance, and GOV.UK advises checking with your council's conservation officer. Government has also said it intends to remove this exemption, so that protected buildings need a certificate when they are sold or let.

Sources: GOV.UK, Buying or selling your home: Energy Performance Certificates and the consultation outcome on reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime (January and March 2026); Elmhurst Energy; Energy Assessor Scheme Operating Board, minimum evidence requirements (October 2026); Office for National Statistics (October 2025). This page is general guidance, not legal advice.