IN TWO years all buildings in the UK that are built, sold or rented will have to have an Energy Performance Certificate. Paul Hogarth looks at what this will mean for you.

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Earlier this year, I talked about the effect of Gordon Brown’s Budget which introduced the idea of 'zero-carbon' homes and focused heavily on making new homes more energy efficient. Since then, the former Chancellor is now Prime Minister, Home Information Packs (HIPs) have been introduced and green issues, together with housing, are at the top of the political agenda.

Developers are under immense pressure to come up with eco-friendly building techniques to meet the Building Regulations that will ensure new homes are energy efficient. It’s not only new home developers that need to adapt, however; every homeowner is under increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint and make their home more energy efficient. In time, it may effect the resale value of your home.

One of the key pieces of documentation in the HIP is an Energy Performance Certificate, or EPC – by 2009, all buildings in the UK that are constructed, sold or rented out will have to have an EPC. Since HIPs were introduced for four-bedroom homes in August, it has been announced that early results demonstrated average four-bedroom homes are getting only an E energy rating on an A-to-G scale, highlighting the need for dramatic improvements.

As part of the energy assessment, recommendations are made to owners on how they can make their homes more energy efficient, such as loft and cavity wall insulation, adding double glazing and switching to low energy light bulbs. The next test will be whether people are actually prepared to pay the additional cost of carrying out the work.

As energy efficiency continues to be at the forefront of the political agenda, house sellers will have to start thinking seriously about how efficient their home is; it’s a relatively new concept now, so perhaps it’s not at the top of every buyer’s agenda, but I predict that it will increasingly become one of the considerations people factor into their home purchase.

You wouldn’t buy a fridge with 1950s technology and a G rating, so why would you buy a home that fared poorly?

An average new home is up to four times more energy efficient than a second-hand home and has excellent insulation and the latest energy saving devices, so, if you’re looking to buy a property and you haven’t considered a new home before, now might be the time.

* Paul Hogarth is Partner and head of new homes sales and marketing in the South East at Knight Frank. Call 01483 564 660 or visit www.knightfrank.com