Yes, C is a good band: it sits above the most common D and already matches the target the government has set for private rented property by 2030. In money terms at sale it barely pays. Like for like, a band C house of the same size, type, build period and sale year goes for roughly one percent more than an identical D house; the noticeable gap in medians comes down to the fact that many C-rated homes are flats. My view: for a landlord, C is valuable as headroom for the future; for a seller, it is a nice line in the listing, and nothing more.
Contents
↓ Band C by property type↓ Band C by region
C on the sales market
The median for band C between January 2015 and September 2026 was £2,954 per m², for band D £2,857, so +3% head to head (HM Land Registry Price Paid, EPC register as at November 2026). Part of this gap comes from composition: 24% of sold C-rated homes are flats or maisonettes, against 10% for D, and a square metre in a flat usually costs more. Like for like, C keeps a premium of +1.0%, with a 95% range of +0.7% to +1.3%. Pooling all homes rated “C or better” against “D–G” gives +1.2% (+0.9% to +1.5%).
The ranges are narrow because there are plenty of sales, and that is the main takeaway: the premium for C is reliably measured and reliably small. Lifting a D house to C purely for the sale price does not pay off on these figures, unless the works were needed anyway. What exactly separates D from C is set out on the band D page, and the comparison from A to G puts all the bands side by side.
C and letting: what is mandatory and what is a target
Letting is currently governed by the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES): no lower than band E. Band C is not mandatory today. In the GOV.UK guidance for landlords, updated on 5 May 2026, the government states its aim: to bring “as many as possible” privately rented homes in England and Wales “to EPC Band C or equivalent by 2030”. For now that is an intention, not a legal requirement. Always check letting rules against that guidance; this site's assessment does not replace it.
Gas and bills for a band C home
The certificate contains no pound amounts, so you cannot work out a “monthly cost” from it. For a gas-heated band C home, the certificate gives a median of 11,141 kWh a year. That is primary energy including lighting, an overestimate. By meter readings (DESNZ for 2024), in the postcodes where such homes predominate, actual consumption was about 70% of that figure. So knock roughly a third off the certificate's estimate before budgeting for heating.
Frequently asked questions
Can I rent out a C-rated home?
Yes. The current floor for letting is band E, and a C-rated home clears it by two bands.
Is C the most common EPC rating?
No, it comes second. Among sales with a certificate since 2015, band C accounted for 26.5%, which is 2,412,868 sales in England and Wales; only D is more frequent.
Does a C rating help with a mortgage?
The site holds no mortgage data and does not answer this question with numbers.
Band C in brief
C is a good and common band: 26.5% of sales with a certificate in England and Wales since 2015. Like for like it adds +1.0% to the price over D (+0.7% to +1.3%), and “C or better” against “D–G” gives +1.2%. For letting, E is enough today, while C remains the government's target for 2030. On gas, meters in these postcodes show about 70% of the certificate's estimate.