Update: Energy Performance Certification in Student Housing and Accommodation

Guidance on EPCs for rented dwellings has now been published and is available on the CLG website this article comments on this Guidance.

Page 16 of the Guidance says under "Determining the type of EPC required" states:

"Dwellings in multiple occupation: Where individual rooms in a building are rented out and there are shared facilities (eg kitchen and/or bathroom), an EPC is not required. This because an EPC is only required on the rental of a building or part of a building designed or altered to be used separately. Renting a room does not meet the ‘part of a building’ definition."

A number of case studies are then given and the important ones for student housing are:

"A house or flat is rented by a number of tenants who have exclusive use of their bedrooms but share a kitchen and bathroom. In this case each tenant has a contract with the landlord for the parts they have access to, but not for a whole dwelling. An EPC is therefore not required each time a tenant moves, although one will be required for the whole house if it is sold, rented as a whole or constructed."

This says that EPCs are not required at all for those renting rooms within a building (such as a cluster flat or house) when they are let individually.

The second says:

"A group of friends rent a property and there is a single contract between the landlord and the group as the contract is for the rental of a whole dwelling."

This would mean that a flat or house let on a joint agreement would require an EPC for the whole house/flat which the tenants should be given a copy of.

Conclusion

Based on this guidance it can be concluded that:

• Occupants of rooms in buildings let on individual agreements where there are shared common parts do not require an EPC
  
  
• Occupants of buildings let on joint agreements for a whole house or flat do need an EPC