Bath EPC ratings 2026: the Georgian core's retrofit gap

Just 32.8% of homes with a linked energy certificate in Bath's historic centre — the BA1 and BA2 postcode districts that contain the city's Georgian terraces, crescents and squares — rate EPC C or above. A few miles south, in Radstock and Midsomer Norton (BA3), the figure is 41.7%. Across the rest of Bath and North East Somerset, including Keynsham and the Chew Valley villages, it is higher again at 45.3% (Homecost analysis of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's EPC register, latest certificate per address, retrieved 2026-10-01).

That is the opposite of what Bath's house prices would suggest. The city's historic core is also the most expensive part of the authority to buy into — a typical home there sold for £445,000 in 2025, against £290,000 in Radstock and Midsomer Norton. Bath is "dearest to buy, coldest to run" on this measure, not the other way round.

The three-way split

Bath and North East Somerset's own 2026-27 council tax Band D charge — £2,383.42, the lowest of the four West of England authorities — applies uniformly across all of these areas, so it isn't a factor in the gap. What differs sharply between them is the age of the housing stock.

It's the building's age, not its postcode

Nearly half of the linked EPC register in Bath's core — 47.4% (9,265 of 19,550 certificates) — covers buildings recorded as built before 1950. In Radstock and Midsomer Norton, that share is 26.7%; in the rest of the authority, 22.6%. Bath's centre carries roughly double the pre-1950 stock share of either comparison area, which is exactly what you'd expect of a city whose street plan was largely laid down in the Georgian and Regency periods and filled in with Victorian terraces beyond it.

The clearer test is to hold age constant and compare locations. Looking only at pre-1900 stock, the EPC C+ share is close to flat across all three areas: 10.7% in Bath's core, 10.2% in Radstock and Midsomer Norton, 8.6% elsewhere in the authority. A pre-1900 house in the city centre is not meaningfully colder, on this data, than a pre-1900 house in Radstock. The authority-wide gap exists almost entirely because Bath's core has so much more of that oldest stock to begin with — a composition effect, not a sign that central Bath's older buildings have been retrofitted any worse than their rural counterparts.

The retrofit cliff, era by era

Within Bath's core, EPC C+ share rises in lockstep with the age of the building, with the sharpest jump arriving at buildings constructed from 2003 onwards — around the point England's Building Regulations Part L introduced materially tighter thermal-efficiency standards.

A pre-1900 Bath terrace is roughly nine times less likely to reach EPC C than a home built since 2003. That is a national pattern repeated in city after city on this data — what makes Bath distinctive is how much of its stock sits at the cold end of that ladder.

Why the oldest stock is harder to upgrade

Much of central Bath — including the BA1 and BA2 streets behind these figures — sits within a conservation area, and large numbers of individual buildings carry listed status, reflecting the city's Georgian architecture and its inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Under England's planning system, altering a listed building in ways that affect its character — which can include replacing windows, adding external wall insulation, or fitting visible solar panels — typically requires listed building consent from the local planning authority, in addition to any planning permission otherwise needed (GOV.UK, Listed buildings guidance). That doesn't mean upgrades are impossible: measures like loft insulation, draught-proofing and more efficient heating controls are frequently more straightforward. But it is a real, additional constraint that a semi-detached 1960s house in Radstock simply does not carry, and it plausibly compounds the age effect shown above, even though this dataset cannot isolate how much of the gap is consent-driven versus the physical difficulty of insulating solid-wall Georgian construction.

What it costs to buy at each end of the ladder

Stamp Duty Land Tax scales with price, so Bath's core carries a materially higher tax bill than Radstock and Midsomer Norton for a standard purchase in England, calculated 2026-10-01:

The mortgage figures are illustrative only, based on the Bank of England's quoted 75%-LTV five-year fixed rate of 4.32% (dated 2026-04-01) amortised over 25 years — not a quote from any lender. First-time buyers purchasing in Radstock or Midsomer Norton at the area's 2025 median would currently pay no SDLT at all, since £290,000 sits under the £300,000 nil-rate threshold; in Bath's core, the relief reduces but does not eliminate the bill, because £445,000 sits within the £300,000–£500,000 band where relief is worth a flat £5,000.

Checking a real street

Marlborough Buildings, just off the Royal Crescent in postcode BA1 2LY, is a genuine run of Georgian terraced houses and flat conversions — a working example of the core housing stock behind these figures, rather than a single new-build scheme. For the wider Bath market, see the Bath house price guide. Bristol's equivalent retrofit gap, driven by a similar mix of Victorian inner-city terraces, is covered in Bristol's EPC retrofit gap, and the A–G scale itself is explained in full in EPC ratings explained for house buyers. More city and district breakdowns sit in the regional prices section.

Based on 33,293 linked EPC certificates (one per address, latest lodgement) and 2,762 HM Land Registry Price Paid transactions completed in Bath and North East Somerset in 2025, retrieved 2026-10-01.

This article is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Stamp Duty Land Tax, mortgage costs and any consent needed to alter a listed building depend on individual circumstances. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.