Will my rental pass EPC C?

Privately rented homes in England and Wales must reach EPC C by 1 October 2030. Answer a few questions to see where you stand, what it might take, and roughly what it costs.

-until the 1 Oct 2030 deadline

£10,000maximum you're required to spend per property

£30,000maximum fine per property, per breach

Built on the 2030 rules the government confirmed in January 2026
Scores worked out with the SAP rating equations used for EPCs
Upgrade costs from Energy Saving Trust figures
Reviewed 28 October 2026 by Andrew Chambi, accredited energy assessor

See exactly how the checker works and where every figure comes from

By Andrew Chambi, energy consultant · Last reviewed 28 October 2026

Step 1

Your property

Property type

Is the property worth under £100,000?

Step 2

Your current EPC

Find it free on the government EPC register. The score is the number next to the letter, for example "D 61".

I know the score I only know the letter I don't know

EPC score (1 to 100)

Step 3

What's in the property now

Answer what you can. "Not sure" is fine for anything else. We'll make a sensible guess from the age of the property and flag anything worth checking.

When was it built?

A rough guess is fine. The EPC or the old sale listing usually says.

Loft insulation

Look through the loft hatch. The joists are the wooden beams across the floor of the loft. Thick insulation buries them completely.

Outside walls

Look at the brickwork. If some bricks show their short ends, the walls are probably solid. If every brick is laid long-ways, it's probably cavity. Neat rows of small filled holes in the mortar usually mean the cavity has been insulated.

Windows

Most double glazing has the year stamped in a corner of the glass.

Main heating

The boiler's age is often on a sticker or its service record. A white plastic pipe from the boiler to a drain usually means it's a modern condensing boiler.

Heating controls

The radiator dials are the numbered knobs (usually 1 to 5) on the side of each radiator.

Ground floor

Wooden floorboards with small vents (air bricks) low on the outside walls usually mean a suspended timber floor.

Hot water

A hot water tank is usually in an airing cupboard.

Light bulbs

Solar panels

How this works

EPC bands run from A (92+) to G (1 to 20). Band C starts at a score of 69, so the checker works out how many points you're short and builds the cheapest likely route to close the gap.

Costs come from published averages, mostly from the Energy Saving Trust. Points per upgrade are typical ranges. Real gains depend on the property, and upgrades don't always add up neatly, because each one changes the effect of the next.

Points are worked out the way the EPC itself does it. Your score is turned back into a modelled energy cost per square metre, each upgrade cuts that cost by a typical amount, and the result is turned back into a score using the published rating equations . So the same upgrade adds more points to a poorly rated home, and stacked upgrades don't double count.

See the assumptions behind each upgrade

Two things worth knowing about the 2030 rules:

All privately rented homes must reach C by 1 October 2030, with fines of up to £30,000 (source).
The new standard will be measured against new EPC metrics. Homes rated C or above on the current scale before 1 October 2029 count as compliant until that EPC expires (source).
Qualifying spending from 1 October 2025 counts towards the £10,000 cap. If you spend the cap and still can't reach C, you can register an exemption that lasts 10 years.

Full details, including every assumption and source, are on the methodology page.

This is an estimate, not an EPC or legal advice. Only an accredited assessor can produce an EPC, and a site survey will change the numbers.

Sources

Costs checked October 2026. Non-semi costs for solid wall insulation and glazing are scaled from the semi-detached figure by property size. Figures marked "estimate" have no single published source and are rough ranges.