EPC Certificates in Bushey

EPC Certificates in Bushey: what is different here

Where Hertsmere's homes sit on the EPC scale

The Office for National Statistics analysed the EPC records lodged for Hertsmere up to March 2022. The median energy efficiency score was 68, one point below the start of band C at 69, and 48.1% of homes with a certificate rated C or better. Harrow, for comparison, had a median of 66 and 41.6% at C or above. The spread by house type is what matters in Bushey: 69.3% of Hertsmere flats reached C, but only 42.5% of terraced houses, 33.0% of detached houses and 25.0% of semis.

Age matters even more. Just 11.5% of Hertsmere homes built before 1930 reached C, against 33.3% of those built between 1930 and 1982 and 93.3% of those built from 2012.

Why detached houses on the heath often land in D

In the 2021 Census just over a third of homes in Bushey Heath ward, which takes in Hartsbourne, were detached, the highest share in Bushey. Hertsmere's detached houses had a median score of 63 in the ONS data, firmly in band D. A large house has more outside wall, more roof and more glass per room, so it loses more heat, and an EPC reflects that.

Many of these houses have also been extended at different dates. Each extension is assessed by its own age and construction, so a completion certificate from building control, or the date of the work, lets us record what was actually built instead of relying on default assumptions for the age band. Evidence of cavity wall insulation, such as a guarantee, helps in the same way.

Crittall windows on the Warren estate

The Warren estate was built by Comben and Wakeling from about 1956, with 77 houses and, in the early 1960s, the 12 bungalows of Rose Lawn. Originally every window was a slim galvanised steel Crittall frame. Since 2001 an Article 4(2) direction has removed the right to alter original Crittall windows that face a road or open space on Warren Road, The Comyns, The Lake and Coles Green, so swapping them for double-glazed uPVC needs planning permission, and Hertsmere's 2003 design guide says uPVC will be resisted.

The same guide encourages secondary glazing as the way to improve energy efficiency. For an EPC, we record single glazing in metal frames as it is, and secondary glazing where it has been fitted.

Conservation areas limit the outside, not the inside

Bushey has three conservation areas: Bushey High Street with Melbourne Road in Bushey Village, High Road in Bushey Heath, and The Lake, which includes the Warren estate. Cladding the outside of a house in a conservation area is not permitted development, so external wall insulation needs planning permission. The recommendations printed on an EPC do not know that.

What usually remains open in a Bushey conservation-area house is loft insulation to a modern depth, insulating a suspended timber floor from below, heating controls, a better-insulated hot water cylinder, low-energy lighting and secondary glazing. We tell you which of the listed measures are realistic for your house before you spend anything.

Letting in Bushey: band E now, C proposed for 2030

A let property in Bushey must currently reach at least band E unless a valid exemption is registered, with a spending cap of £3,500 including VAT. In January 2026 the government decided that private lets should reach C, or an equivalent, by 1 October 2030, with a £10,000 cap per property; this is policy, not yet law, and legislation is intended for 2027.

A certificate rated C issued before 1 October 2029 is due to stay compliant until it expires. In the ONS figures, only 42.8% of Hertsmere's privately rented homes rated C or better, so more than half of Bushey lets may need work by 2030. New-style certificates based on the Home Energy Model are now expected in the second half of 2027.

Selling on the heath: order the EPC before the board goes up

Bushey is mostly owner-occupied. In Bushey Park, which covers parts of Merry Hill Road and Little Bushey Lane, 78.3% of households owned their home in 2021, and in Bushey Heath ward 43.1% owned outright, many of them long-standing owners. A certificate lasts ten years, so a house that has not changed hands for a decade or more often has no valid EPC at all.

The law says it must be commissioned before the property is marketed. Book us when you instruct the agent, and the certificate will be on the register within a day of the visit.

Official sources

• ONS: energy efficiency of housing, England and Wales, by local authority (EPC records to March 2022)
• Hertsmere Borough Council: Article 4(2) direction on original Crittall windows, Warren estate (2001)
• Hertsmere Borough Council: Warren Estate, Bushey Heath design guide (2003)
• Hertsmere Borough Council: conservation areas
• GOV.UK: domestic private rented property minimum energy efficiency standard, landlord guidance
• GOV.UK: improving the energy performance of privately rented homes, government response (January 2026)
• GOV.UK: energy performance certificates when buying or selling
• ONS Census 2021 via Nomis: tenure, Bushey wards (TS054)

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.