The Institution of Commercial Business Agents is asking for clarification on the timing of the duty of sellers to make available a valid EPC. See Property Week – EPC confusion. The regulations may not be easy to follow, but the timing of the duty seems fairly clear. The duty to make available an EPC is to be satisfied “at the earliest opportunity” and in any event before entering into a contract to sell or rent out the building or (and here’s the tricky bit), if sooner, no later than whichever is the earlier of: (a) in the case of a person who requests information about the building, the time at which the relevant person first makes available any information in writing about the building to the person; or (b) in the case of a person who makes a request to view the building, the time at which the person views the building. So, in an ideal world, EPCs should have been dealt with by the agents before we lawyers are first instructed. Perhaps agents just don’t want to be bothered with the job of dealing with the EPC, in the same way that many sellers don’t?
Property PSL