Why would my house have a suspended floor when all the others on the street don’t?

[vitamindandc]

I’m in the middle of buying a bungalow that was built around 1980. The seller is using the EPC certificate from its last sale in 2017 (which is valid for 10 years), but I noticed it says "suspended floor, no insulation (assumed)." I’m pretty sure it’s solid concrete. I checked my surveyor's report, and it saids solid concrete. I’ve also looked at the certificates for other houses on the street, and they all say a solid floor, so why would mine be any different? My worry is that there are no air bricks on the outside of the house, so if it has a suspended floor, shouldn’t it have them? There are 39 houses on the street, so it seems strange that only mine would have this. My attached neighbours also saids solid concrete. Can anyone advise? Am I right to think the EPC certificate is incorrect?

Bump

Have you got a carpet you can pull up a bit in a place that doesn't show and look or is it floorboards which are fixed in

Oh, just see its not your house so scrap that

Edit: sorry, you're buying it, so you can't contact them. The EPC assessor is wrong. I wouldn't worry yourself any further.

Most EPCs are shockingly bad. I can't begin to tell you how wrong most of them are. However, you paid for the EPC, so you get to question it. Email the assessor and ask them on what evidence they came to that conclusion, point them to the EPCs for the rest of the street, and they'll probably amend yours.

@KievLoverTwo you paid for the EPC

The OP said The seller is using the EPC certificate from its last sale in 2017 (which is valid for 10 years)

My understanding is that the current owner paid for the EPC- 9yrs ago! They might not even be able to find the same assessor to query them.

I can't comment on your situation OP, but I do agree that EPC's can be widely inaccurate. We previously lived in a flat in London. All 4 flats in the block had the exact same floor plan and size, same windows, same insulation, same light bulbs and heating yet all came with a different rating from different assessors! I too would assume that the EPC is wrong in your case.

"My understanding is that the current owner paid for the EPC- 9yrs ago! They might not even be able to find the same assessor to query them."

The original assessor is only liable to answer questions from the original person who commissioned it, so it's of sod all use to the OP to even bother getting in touch with them.

I've studied a lot of EPCs. Quite literally, hundreds.

I find something small wrong on 40-50% of them and something drastically wrong on around 20% of them. For example, when the EPC assessor of a house I was in the middle of buying gave the square meter footage to be 60% larger than the house actually was. Having actually been around it and studied the floorplans, I was aghast at how wrong it was. Especially since all 9 houses in the row are the same size - a cursory glance would show you that. There was no bloody excuse for such incompetence.

But, time and time and time again I keep seeing them!

It’s an EPC from 2017.
EPC assessors get audited every so many surveys and have to provide documentary evidence to confirm their assessment. I don’t think they are mostly shockingly bad. My husband has found a few errors in a small number of renewals. Also the assessments have changed over time. Last October they became more detailed and there is another change c9ming up later this year. You’re exaggerating.

You have no place telling me that I am exaggerating. The last house I lived in was under measured by 40%. The current house I live in uses around 150% more kwh than stated and behaves more like an EPC E than a B, mentions a combi boiler without mentioning the two water tanks attached to it that the combi boiler constantly heats, mentions gas UFH but NOT the overwhelmingly expensive electric UFH and the house I was going to buy was literally measured as being 60% bigger than it is. That's just my experience of the last three houses. The one before those was even worse than the aforementioned.

I HAVE studied hundreds. I am thrilled that your husband is only finding small faults, he must be looking at vastly better houses than I am. But please check your attitude when you decide to accuse someone of over exagerating because "I'm alright mate."

You appear to be the one with the attitude.