
Terms and Conditions - Equinox Energy Performance Certificates & Property Photography
Residential EPC Certificates, Professional Property Photography, 360 Degree Virtual Tours and Floorplans. Covering the Chelmsford, Maldon, Braintree, Brentwood, Basildon, Southend and Romford areas - check full coverage here
Terms and Conditions
1. Standard Conditions
The Energy Performance Certificate is produced by an Energy Assessor, who is licensed by a government approved Accreditation Scheme. The Energy Assessor has a duty to provide an EPC in accordance with the ‘Scheme’ standards and regulations. To get a licence from the scheme an Energy Assessor has to pass an assessment of skills, in line with National Occupational Standards; and have insurance that covers negligence.
Energy Assessors must follow necessary standards and as specified by their ‘Scheme’ Code of Conduct.
An Energy Performance Certificate is not valid unless it has been produced by an Energy Assessor who is a member of a government approved scheme and it has been entered on the Energy Performance Certificate Registers. The Energy Performance Certificate Registers are operated by Landmark on behalf of the Government. Any further services the Energy Assessor may provide are not covered by these terms and so must be covered by a separate contract. If you have any complaint about the Report, you can complain by following the complaints procedure, which is explained in more detail at the end of this document.
The EPC Report tells you:
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The properties performance is rated in terms of the energy used per square meter of floor area, energy efficiency based on fuel costs and environmental impact on Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
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The energy performance of this home on the date it was inspected, and provides the necessary Energy Performance Certificate.
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The energy efficiency rating is a measure of the overall efficiency of a home. The higher the rating, the more efficient the home is and the lower the fuel bills are likely to be.
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The environmental impact rating is a measure of a home's impact upon the environment in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The higher the rating, the less impact it has on the environment.
The Report contains an Energy Performance Certificate that tells you about the energy and environmental performance of the home and suggests improvements that you can make.
The EPC Report does not tell you:
The value of your home or cover things that are more specifically considered when a valuation is provided, such as the locality of the home or the availability of public transport or facilities;
About the condition of the building or its building services; or about any health and safety risks noted by the Energy Assessor except in respect of such risks to the Energy Assessor as may restrict the scope of the inspection.
A seller, buyer or lender who needs advice on subjects that are not covered by the Energy Performance Certificate must arrange for it to be provided separately.
What is inspected?
The Energy Assessor inspects the inside and outside of the main building and the visible parts of the gas and electricity services. No parts of the building requiring access equipment will be inspected except lofts which can be safely accessed from a 3 metre ladder (which the Energy Assessor will provide).
Important note:
The inspection is ‘non-invasive’. This means that the Energy Assessor does not take up carpets, floor coverings or floorboards, move furniture or remove the contents of cupboards. Also, the Energy Assessor does not remove secured panels or undo electrical fittings.
2. Rights of the Energy Assessor to withdraw from the contract.
The Energy Assessor has the right to withdraw from the agreed Contract if one or more of the following conditions apply:
If the property poses a threat to the Energy Assessor’s health and safety beyond the normal domestic risks reasonable for a property in current residential occupation.
If access, for the Energy Assessor’s visual inspection, is found to be restricted and if such restriction is likely, in their opinion, to have a material effect upon the completeness and/or accuracy of the Energy Performance Certificate.
If electricity, gas (if provided) and water services are not fully connected and in working condition during the inspection (which will include having a lamp in every light fitting).
If any part of the property or the premises is a building site, unless the current building works are being managed by a contractor, who is competent in construction health and safety and who will be present throughout the duration of the inspection, ensuring compliance with the accepted site safety rules.
If a potential or actual conflicts of interest come to the Energy Assessor’s notice at any stage throughout the process.
It should be noted that if the withdrawal is due to something the client or their agent’s could have prevented then the Energy Assessor reserves the right to charge a fee, pro rata, for the abortive work.
3. Rights of the client to cancel the contract.
The Client has the right to withdraw from the Contract at any point. Formal notice of withdrawal must be made in writing to the Energy Assessor.
The Energy Assessor reserves the right to charge an abortive fee, pro rata, for work completed up to the point of the receipt of the Client’s Withdrawal Notice.
4. Data Protection.
The Energy Assessor will hold personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Act [1998] and this information will not be used for any purpose other than the production of the Energy Performance Certificate.
Privacy Policy
We receive, collect and store any information you enter on our website or provide us in any other way. In addition, we collect the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; login; e-mail address; password; computer and connection information and purchase history. We may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information, and methods used to browse away from the page. We also collect personally identifiable information (including name, email, password, communications); payment details (including credit card information), comments, feedback, product reviews, recommendations, and personal profile.
When you conduct a transaction on our website, as part of the process, we collect personal information you give us such as your name, address and email address. Your personal information will be used for the specific reasons stated above only.
We collect such Non-personal and Personal Information for the following purposes:
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To provide and operate the Services;
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To provide our Users with ongoing customer assistance and technical support;
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To be able to contact our Visitors and Users with general or personalized service-related notices and promotional messages;
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To create aggregated statistical data and other aggregated and/or inferred Non-personal Information, which we or our business partners may use to provide and improve our respective services;
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To comply with any applicable laws and regulations
Our company is hosted on the Wix.com platform. Wix.com provides us with the online platform that allows us to sell our products and services to you. Your data may be stored through Wix.com’s data storage, databases and the general Wix.com applications. They store your data on secure servers behind a firewall.
All direct payment gateways offered by Wix.com and used by our company adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information by our store and its service providers.
We may contact you to notify you regarding your account, to troubleshoot problems with your account, to resolve a dispute, to collect fees or monies owed, to poll your opinions through surveys or questionnaires, to send updates about our company, or as otherwise necessary to contact you to enforce our User Agreement, applicable national laws, and any agreement we may have with you. For these purposes we may contact you via email, telephone, text messages, and postal mail.
If you don’t want us to process your data anymore, please contact us using the contact form above or send us mail to Equinox EU Ltd, Suite 83, Dorset House, Chemsford, Essex, CM1 1TB.
We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.
If you would like to: access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you, you are invited to contact us using the contact form above or send us mail to Equinox EU Ltd, Suite 83, Dorset House, Chemsford, Essex, CM1 1TB.
Complaints Procedure
We aim to offer you the best possible service, but there may be occasions when you feel you have cause for complaint. If so, we will always try to resolve the problem quickly and to your satisfaction. If you are unhappy with our response, you can take your complaint further through our complaints procedure. Please make your feelings known as soon as possible and preferably in writing.
Where to first make your complaint
We aim to resolve your concerns within five working days. Sometimes it may take longer to look into the matter fully. If that happens we will let you know within 5 working days when you can expect a response.
You can contact us in any of the following ways to let us know of the problem:
Telephone us on: 07875 281743
Write to us at: Equinox EU Ltd, Suite 83, Dorset House, Duke Street, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1T
E-mail us on: steveturner400@googlemail.com
We will then look into and respond to your concerns.In the unlikely event that you remain unhappy, you can ask for us to review your complaint.
If you are still not happy.
If after that review you are still not satisfied, you can that stage ask the 'Scheme' to help. The 'Scheme' will investigate your complaint and if felt necessary, it will pass your complaint onto an Independent Adjudication Service to be nominated by the Scheme.
This service, which is an entirely independent mediation and adjudication service will consider your complaint and decide weather to take action against the Energy Assessor as a result. The Energy Assessor can be ordered to undertake various actions including if appropriate, paying you compensation.
Our company supports fully and is a member of the Quidos accreditation scheme.
The Scheme details are provided below.
Telephone: 01225 326 895
Address: Quidos Ltd, 8 North Parade Buildings, Bath, BA1 1NS
E-mail: complaints@quidos.co.uk
Website: www.quidos.co.uk
Please be aware that the existence of this complaints process does not prevent you from pursuing a complaint through the courts and as such does not affect your existing statutory rights.