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EPC ratings by property age and type

How the share of homes below band C changes with age and property type, for all homes and for privately rented homes in England and Wales.

EPC ratings by property age and type

Written by EPCGuide Editorial Team
6 min read

Older houses are far more likely to be below C. 88.4% of houses built before 1900 sit below EPC band C, against 0.9% of houses built from 2012. Among privately rented houses, those built before 1900 (85.9% below C) are 16 times as likely to sit below C as rented houses built from 2012 (5.3%). The worst-placed rented group is houses built before 1900.

All figures count homes in England and Wales, once each, on their newest certificate.

Source: EPCGuide analysis of the domestic EPC register for England and Wales (GOV.UK bulk file, 13 October 2026). Unit: homes (newest certificate per home). Method.

Are older homes more likely to be below EPC C?

Yes, by a wide margin. Across all houses in England and Wales, 88.4% of those built before 1900 sit below band C. For houses built from 2012 the share is 0.9%. The oldest houses are 101 times as likely to be below C as the newest, and 1.2 million homes sit in the oldest group.

The fall from old to new is uneven, and a few neighbouring bands even rise slightly. For all houses and for privately rented houses alike, the steepest step down comes between 1996-2002 and 2003-2006.

The minimum EPC band you must meet to let a property in England and Wales today is E. That has been the case since 1 April 2020.Bands D and E meet that minimum. “Below C” marks the homes that a band C requirement would affect if it became law.

All homes in England and Wales: share of homes below EPC band C, by age band and property type. Unit: homes (newest certificate per home). Source: EPCGuide analysis of the domestic EPC register for England and Wales (GOV.UK bulk file, 13 October 2026).
Age bandHouseBungalowFlatMaisonettePark home
Before 190088.4%1,229,057 homes92.8%29,452 homes65.7%430,889 homes75.2%54,784 homesn/a
1900-192980.9%1,837,260 homes88.4%42,969 homes59.9%672,288 homes69.9%72,162 homesn/a
1930-194974.9%1,897,657 homes83.9%169,587 homes49.3%327,175 homes62.9%39,386 homesn/a
1950-196662.0%1,898,612 homes75.1%520,736 homes37.3%582,782 homes43.8%95,809 homesn/a
1967-197562.1%1,167,475 homes74.5%398,453 homes38.7%536,198 homes41.2%73,711 homesn/a
1976-198250.1%599,292 homes64.8%164,468 homes23.8%323,805 homes28.8%28,877 homes99.4%2,629 homes
1983-199051.2%652,904 homes65.0%152,194 homes23.7%356,930 homes33.3%23,664 homes92.7%4,470 homes
1991-199550.8%437,360 homes64.8%58,803 homes23.5%188,517 homes32.0%10,310 homesn/a
1996-200238.2%581,895 homes50.7%56,717 homes14.5%253,643 homes22.7%10,353 homes86.3%3,172 homes
2003-20068.9%352,291 homes25.6%30,863 homes8.8%353,155 homes15.5%12,264 homesn/a
2007-20113.5%340,750 homes16.9%23,273 homes5.5%329,605 homes9.0%10,771 homes84.8%1,607 homes
2012 onwards0.9%1,661,143 homes8.2%82,123 homes6.7%1,091,729 homes8.9%36,047 homesn/a
After 2006, not split6.7%50,096 homes18.8%6,229 homes8.6%37,272 homes15.0%1,886 homesn/a
Not recorded3.9%1,562 homesn/a17.0%1,194 homesn/an/a

“n/a” marks a cell with fewer than 1,000 homes, or none. Shares for groups that small move too much to compare.

Read down a column to compare age bands. Read across a row to compare property types built in the same period. Each cell shows the share of homes below C, with the number of homes beneath it.

Which property types are most likely to be below C?

Across all tenures, the worst-placed group is bungalows built before 1900, at 92.8% below C. Our bungalow EPC guide covers the causes and the fixes.

Flats follow a different pattern. In the oldest band, flats (65.7% below C) are less often below C than houses (88.4%). In the newest band the order reverses: houses (0.9%) are less often below C than flats (6.7%). The purpose-built flat guide, the converted flat guide and the maisonette guide cover each type in detail.

Park homes have few certificates in most age bands, so many of their cells show “n/a”.

How do rented homes compare?

Privately rented houses built before 1900 are 16 times as likely to sit below C as privately rented houses built from 2012. The shares are 85.9% and 5.3%. 244,223 rented homes sit in the oldest group.

The rented ratio is smaller than the all-homes ratio (101 times). The gap narrows at both ends. Rented houses built before 1900 are slightly less often below C (85.9% against 88.4%), and rented houses built from 2012 are more often below C (5.3% against 0.9%).

The worst-placed rented group is houses built before 1900, at 85.9% below C. For scale, 49.4% of all homes in England and Wales sit below C, against 52.7% of the 3.5 million privately rented homes.

Privately rented homes in England and Wales: share of homes below EPC band C, by age band and property type. Unit: homes (newest certificate per home). Source: EPCGuide analysis of the domestic EPC register for England and Wales (GOV.UK bulk file, 13 October 2026).
Age bandHouseBungalowFlatMaisonettePark home
Before 190085.9%244,223 homes93.3%7,617 homes65.0%208,913 homes75.0%21,881 homesn/a
1900-192976.2%440,267 homes89.5%6,536 homes60.4%341,827 homes70.2%31,130 homesn/a
1930-194973.6%238,758 homes86.9%12,401 homes53.3%134,527 homes64.4%14,529 homesn/a
1950-196661.3%189,214 homes80.5%29,539 homes49.9%95,578 homes50.7%18,543 homesn/a
1967-197557.2%122,218 homes78.9%26,812 homes51.4%99,824 homes47.0%15,798 homesn/a
1976-198244.8%73,204 homes71.4%12,684 homes36.5%61,364 homes35.5%6,799 homesn/a
1983-199044.6%97,568 homes71.2%11,616 homes32.5%91,697 homes39.1%6,822 homesn/a
1991-199545.1%63,676 homes71.6%5,120 homes29.9%53,908 homes38.1%2,813 homesn/a
1996-200228.6%81,407 homes56.8%5,753 homes17.4%91,569 homes26.5%3,741 homesn/a
2003-20067.5%60,400 homes38.3%4,890 homes9.7%150,301 homes17.4%4,876 homesn/a
2007-20115.3%44,074 homes32.5%3,761 homes6.4%117,158 homes13.3%3,631 homesn/a
2012 onwards5.3%29,192 homes31.9%3,087 homes7.4%97,755 homes14.6%2,477 homesn/a
After 2006, not split9.5%1,671 homesn/a9.6%2,799 homesn/an/a
Not recordedn/an/an/an/an/a

“n/a” marks a cell with fewer than 1,000 homes, or none. Shares for groups that small move too much to compare.

Government has said it intends to require EPC band C in the private rented sector in England and Wales from 1 October 2030. That is confirmed policy, not yet law. Older rented houses are the most likely to fall short of it. See what is proposed and what is law today.

Privately rented houses at each EPC band

The table below shows where privately rented houses sit across bands A to G, by age band. Counts are homes.

Privately rented houses in England and Wales: number of homes at each EPC band, by age band. Unit: homes (newest certificate per home). Source: EPCGuide analysis of the domestic EPC register for England and Wales (GOV.UK bulk file, 13 October 2026).
Age bandBand ABand BBand CBand DBand EBand FBand GTotal homes
Before 190012856333,797117,78676,84110,5074,601244,223
1900-19292191,034103,565255,39373,9814,4561,619440,267
1930-19499775062,286143,09530,1231,909498238,758
1950-19661451,26271,72595,65618,8841,257285189,214
1967-19759483651,37359,11410,06463998122,218
1976-19824653739,79427,6984,8802252473,204
1983-19906347553,48637,2936,054192597,568
1991-19953126034,68725,6302,98679363,676
1996-20026145257,59521,5481,71830381,407
2003-20064566555,1663,7317847260,400
2007-20111161,98139,6211,9853701044,074
2012 onwards4515,57121,6301,2802517229,192
After 2006, not split7921,41413522101,671

Age bands with fewer than 1,000 homes are left out.

Which guide covers a home of a given age?

The age bands in this page are register bands. Our property-type guides cover what sits behind the rating, the likely upgrades and their costs. The closest guide for each age band:

For flats, bungalows and maisonettes, use the type guides linked above. The full set is on the property types index.

Method

Extract. The GOV.UK bulk download of the domestic EPC register for England and Wales, file last updated 13 October 2026, covering certificates lodged from 2008 to 13 October 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Unit.Homes. A home is counted once, on its newest certificate: the register’s yearly files are read from the newest year back and the first certificate found for a home is kept, so within one year the file’s own order decides. A home is identified by its UPRN where the register records one, otherwise by its first address line and postcode.

Below C. A current energy rating of D, E, F or G. Band C starts at a SAP score of 69.

Age band.The construction period printed on the certificate. Where a certificate gives only a construction year, we mapped the year into the standard bands. The register’s 1900-1929 band cannot be split further.

After 2006, not split.Certificates whose age band reads only “2007 onwards” or “Post-2006”. They cannot be placed in 2007-2011 or 2012 onwards, so they sit in their own row.

Not recorded. Certificates where the age band is blank or holds a value that is not a valid band.

Property type. The type recorded on the certificate: house, bungalow, flat, maisonette, park home. Homes with no recorded type are left out of the tables, which cover 20.4 million homes.

Privately rented. Homes whose newest certificate records private rental as the tenure.

Small groups. A table cell shows “n/a” when it covers fewer than 1,000 homes. The CSV keeps every group.

Worst group. property type and age band with the highest below-C share (20,000+ homes).

Reproducibility. The figures on this page are generated by scripts/epc-data-stories.py from the extract above. Nothing is sampled or modelled.

Download the data (CSV)Free to reuse with credit: “EPCGuide analysis of the domestic EPC register for England and Wales (GOV.UK bulk file, 13 October 2026)”.

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