Agents who have been told that, since last Friday, they must attach the front page of the EPC to all their property particulars, have been left scratching their heads in frustration.
It has proved impossible to extract the required page, meaning that they have no choice but either to attach the full EPC document, or to do each one manually by a process of printing off and scanning.
Landmark, the private firm owned by the Daily Mail which runs the EPC database, has told agents that the ability for them to automatically select the front page of the EPC and attach it to property details will not be available until June.
While smaller agents will be able to upload the first page manually, larger agents say that this will be almost impossibly time-consuming.
The difficulty appears to be that Landmark’s EPCs are non-editable PDF documents which have been ‘locked’, making extraction of just one page impossible.
Nick Salmon said: “This is a farce.”
He says that attaching the full EPC will inevitably add many more extra pieces of paper to the process – despite the fact that the whole point of EPCs is supposedly ‘green’.
Salmon said it had proved virtually impossible to get technical information out of Landmark. He said: “The Landmark helpdesk is an oxymoron. They are utterly clueless about the changes.”
He said he felt that Landmark had been given totally insufficient guidance from the Government department concerned, CLG.
He said that the system so far allowed three options: to generate and retrieve the full residential EPC; to download the full commercial EPC; and to generate the first page only of a commercial EPC. Salmon said: “Surely, it was clear well before last Friday that one of the options was missing.”
Queries to Landmark from EAT have been deflected to CLG, but our request for an update has not been acknowledged. Software firms are acknowledging the problem and, for example, both Niche and KeyAGENT have come up with solutions allowing the front page of the EPC to be detached.
While agents potentially now face £200 penalties for marketing sales and rental properties without EPCs, many have voiced their disquiet – whilst making it clear that they will not, if they can help it, break the rules.
However, CLG has not yet clarified whether EPCs must be made available within seven/21 or 28 days, or made available on viewings – so far it has said both. Agents have also raised queries as to how far local Trading Standards will be able to police the situation.
Meanwhile, agents have expressed worries about the requirement for the EPC to carry the full address of the property, calling it a ‘touts charter’.
An e-petition can be found here: link https://e.arbonhouse.co.uk/Z6K-RIBK-5FPC2J-ALN9I-1/c.aspx
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Comments
Agents...just get on with it.
It isn’t going to change in legislation. Houses, cars, commercial buildings, washing machines, fridges, dishwashers, trains and no doubt plenty more will come in the future with an EPC.
Clients who are either going to buy or rent will be looking at the EPC from now on, and just wait till they start negotiating downwards on inefficient homes as a great tool to bargain with.
RICH I you pay your fees to the NAEA you can become "RICH MNAEA" and the public will think you are qualified, how good is that! Better than any EPC.
It is not possible to add EPC's to Rightmove in a PDF format, unless it is uploaded as a brochure.
In the past, when you upload a Jpeg image of the graph and give it a title of "EPC", clever software puts the graph further down the page so that it stands out.
Now that the front pages have come out as PDF's, they have to be uploaded as a brochure and this makes them invisible unless you look in the brochures section.
We have decided to screen print the new EPC's and save them as Jpegs. This also allows us to edit out the house number before we upload them. I am sure Trading Standards will first go after the agents not uploading them at all, before they go after the agents removing the house number.
Lets all do the same! What are Trading Standards going to do, fine every agent in the land £200 for every property on their books! It will bankrupt them in court fees first.
I'd like to see Haart leave house numbers on their EPC's, but I bet they won't. They tout everything in our area 500% more than any other agent, so I can't see them giving information away on their own properties to be touted!!
@Rich
The public wouldn't care as they haven't the slightest interest in EPC's.
And the lord had a poo, it was good and he called it govt. common sense.
We cant strike about fees, long hours, rude customers...but we can strike about epc's. The public would love us for standing up against this red tape.
Come on NAEA etc earn your fee's and I' ll join.
@Hmmmm
No - it must be available (even if they can't find it) - which it wouldn't be if you were closed.
It's really like something from Yes Minister - anyway -
The best explanation I have seen is:
http://www.estatesit.com/news/new-2012-epc-regulations-and-rules
Some good ideas well written.
Thanks EW
So can i state - EPC 'Available on request' ?
Thanks
@Hmmmm Its simple.
A website is unambiguously in Law 'written details' - what Rightmove chose to do is their affair, but there is nowhere in the regs which permits their opting out unless the Courts permit their claim that a third party site is an advertiser.
Whatever happens, you are still obliged to comply. You are not a portal - it may prove different in the way such a test is applied to PMA.
You must permit access to the front page of the EPC. The Law makes no mention of how or even the need for a tab stating EPC.
Some agents have added the front page to floor plans, some to the last page of the property details, some to photo's. 'Visible' is not a requirement, 'available' and 'attached' are the key words.
Its no different really from keeping details in a drawer. Attached and available when needed, not visible otherwise.
This is just nuts!
Im going to carry on with what im doing until it has been made plainly clear in concrete, 100% what exactly is meant to bloody happen and what i am required to do
- What about the portals,what about the website blah blah blah - just someone pleeease spell it out - THE FACTS ONLY!
Well bored of all this bull. In the meantime, im going to ignore it all and get back to trying make some money!
@Eddie:
Do you offer banjo lessons as well?
I have just asked the Government the following:
Dear Sirs,
I would be grateful if you could clarify why property portals which contain all the elements which define ‘written particulars’ simply claim they are advertisements whilst our own website must comply with the new regulations.
I see no exemption in the regulations and seek confirmation as to why the two means of providing electronic written particulars differ.
I appreciate that a Law needs to be tested in Court, however, as the Government wrote the Law, perhaps you would clarify what was intended without prejudice to the Courts later position and what guidance has been given to TSI in this respect.
Thank you in anticipation of your reply
Regards
EW
I will post reply in due course (if I get one)
Thank you @Dolan Mullans - We are here to help.
The KeyAGENT PDF Dividing tool is completely free to use and requires no registration:
http://www.keyagent.co.uk/keyagent-tools
The tool will send you the 1st page as a JPG and a PDF.
This is much simpler than most of the options being mentioned on here! Still shocking (but not surprising) that Landmark has not provided its own service for estate agents!
Hmm, I'm not the best with computers but heres how I manage it....
Open the EPC - in the PDF format
Scroll to desired page
Click print as normal
When print box comes up, select 'current page'
Walk upto printer, pick up sheet, staple to back of particulars.
I fail to understand what the hardship is, there is no need to copy or paste or open paint?
It is also my understanding that the new rules apply to sales particulars. Sites such as Rightmove, Zoopla, Gumtree etc, this is advertising NOT particulars so nothing really changes, after all, you couldn't attach the front page of the EPC to an inch by inch ad in your local paper!
Thanks @KeyAgent for a tool that really works.
Headache over.
@Hmmmm - you dont need to comply with new mad rules if the instruction to market was received before 6th April
i had a little browse around other agents sites and im all im seeing is the old epc being advertised
Anyone know if the same would apply to gumtree marketing?
Thankfully my software provider 10Ninety has put in place an automatic process so I can load up the EPC and it will automatically split off the first page.
Now of course I just need to find the time to do it.
For the avoidance of doutb: In the words a the DCLG
"The Property Agents Retrieval Service has been set up for property agents to enable them to attach the EPC to electronic on-line written particulars"
That's websites - just a shame it doesnt actually work.
For industry having to find manual workarounds to use screen grabs is quite frankly a ridiculous postion for us to be in.
Just because the format of the EPC has changed why change the security protection on the file now? After all hundreds of thousands of EPC's have been created thus far with no file protection., maybe nobody was looking at them?
We have always used the first page of the EPC in our product and processing over 100 orders a day so using paint is hardly an option!
Haven't you people heard of scanners?
The quality of a 'print screen' shot is fine when displayed on a screen - but when it is printed the quality is terrible. Back to the drawing board Eddie.
You couldn't make this up.
More paper - fewer trees.
EPC's are intended to reduce carbon emissions - trees used to do that, before we cut them down to print more useless bits of paper no one wants.
My view it adopt a pragmatic approach. If the DCLG is confused, TSI will have no better guidelines than agents so go with the spirit of the law rather than the muddled letters. There will be far worse offenders than those of us who try to comply with a flawed, ill explained idea.
Not being able to extract the front page is silly and just another excuse for agents to moan about.
Being an assessor myself, I deal with a number of agents who received their EPC. Within seconds they get back to me saying how do you extract the front page from a PDF. They just wont take the time to see how its done. And when they say its time consuming, I wonder what else they are doing in their offices when the property market is in a slump. Anyway, this is how I did it
1. Open the PDF of the EPC
2. Press "PrintScr" on the PC
3. Open paint and paste
4. edit the EPC to remove the outline of the printscr page
5. "Save as" a png or jpg on your PC
Thats how i did it. took all of 2 mins to do. So agents saying its time consuming is rubbish. If they have good assessors, and ask nicely, the assessor might do it for them?
It is true that website/online/digital marketing does require the 1st page of the EPC if the marketing falls under the definition of "written particulars".
If anyone has any questions regarding the latest changes, please contact KeyAGENT. 01865 246 672
We also have a page on our website which has all the guidance needed:
http://www.keyagent.co.uk/epc-legislation-changes
If you are struggling with the 1st page extraction then the tool at the web address below will send you the 1st page in PDF and JPG.
http://www.keyagent.co.uk/keyagent-tools
We hope this helps.
Leeds agent - I would like to disagree, however I'm not sure anyone really knows whats what. Rightmove do not require it, what's the difference between rightmove and an agents website?
Just Saying - I'm afraid your comment is not true. Website advertising DOES require the EPC.
You don't need to upload the EPC or any part of it to websites or portals - that is regarded as "advertising" and so is exempt from these new regulations.
Further most decent software will have been upgraded to allow the system to automatically strip the first page of the EPC frmo the PDF file containing all pages and attach it to your particulars. If not, then you should consider changing supplier.
Ive checked most agents websites in my area plus the corporates and no one is paying any attention to the changes by the looks of it. Fj lord have taken the same route as rightmove in that Internet particulars are mearly a property display.
So the same applies to everyone else too. It looks like the changes will prompt less info available rather than more. Who can blame us, we don't want to give up our secrets easily.
EPC's at the extreme end you could say was ordered and not yet available. With 30 days to produce one, what's the hurrry?
Until Landmark can provide the suitable service, here's some helpful steps from www.nichecom.co.uk for extracting the front page as a PDF and/or a JPG.
Step 1. Install Cute PDF Writer.
Step 2. Open the EPC and print to Cute PDF selecting just the first page.
Step 3. Save the file.
And if you need a JPEG for your details.
Step 4. Load either PDF into http://pdf2jpg.net/ to create a JPEG.
Feel free to call me if you need any help.
0118 936 0127
Kind regards, Pete
The KeyAGENT PDF Dividing tool is completely free to use and requires no registration:
http://www.keyagent.co.uk/keyagent-tools
The tool will send you the 1st page as a PDF and a JPG.
KeyAGENT has developed this divider to help the industry.
As regards timescales. I was under the impression that the Regs stated an EPC must be provided in 7 days, and if not, a further 21 days would be allowed provided it had been instructed prior to commencement of marketing,
Farce is a good word mind.