Different BER ratings for apartments in same building

maki

I'm interested in buying an apartment in a 2004 development which has a BER of D2. I did some searching and found other sale listings of apartments in the same building which had significantly better ratings, up to C2 and C1. All of the apartments look pretty much identical, use storage/electric heating, have double glazing, and are the same size.

Is this a cause for alarm, or do ratings vary a lot depending on who did the assessment? I'm concerned that there might be something fundamentally wrong with something in the apartment which is dragging the rating down.

Caranica

Things like energy saving light bulbs can make a difference to BER so I wouldn't worry too much

Alkers

It will vary depending on the assessor, or at least has the potential to. Would top floor apartments and apartments with two external sides have greater heat loss too?

Melanchthon

Alkers wrote: »

It will vary depending on the assessor, or at least has the potential to. Would top floor apartments and apartments with two external sides have greater heat loss too?

This being Ireland how much dodginess is there in relation to assessors, I imagine some individuals might be able to throw a lot of work an assessors way so even without outright corruption/nepotism there is incentives to give good assesments to big clients.

L1011

Significant number of factors - % of external wall vs shared wall, top floor apartments vs non top floor apartments; the previously mentioned low energy lighting.

Also, there are good and bad assessors. My house when originally assessed was recorded as having no attic insulation (it did - 125mm of it) and being entirely single glazed when a number of the openings were double glazed. Would probably have been an E or D3 rather than the F it had if the assessor hadn't done an incompetent rush job.

When it was re-assessed (by a competent assessor who has since left the business) for an SEAI boiler replacement grant; and after going to 225mm attic insulation and fully double glazed, it hit C3 - the jump should not have been that much but I'm sure the SEAI were delighted to record it as a win seeing as they only gave the boiler and controls grant!

pwurple

BER is based on assumptions to a large degree. I took the lightbulbs out of my house, got it reassessed and BER changed.