Commercial and domestic property landlords should be acting now to ensure their buildings are compliant with new energy efficiency legislation. From the 1st April 2018 existing buildings needed to comply with rules under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Scheme (MEES).
It is now illegal for landlords to issue new leases to buildings with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of F or G. Property experts state that this affects 18% of both commercial and domestic property stock. Whilst there are exceptions, for example if the recommended measures to bring the property up to an “E” rating would reduce its value by more than 5%, all landlords should review their buildings to ensure compliance for new leases.
Those buildings already in a lease agreement at 1st April 2018 must be compliant by 1st April 2020 for domestic properties and 1st April 2023 in the case of commercial properties. Guidance has been published for application of MEES to domestic and commercial properties and can be found here.
For commercial landlords penalties are 10% of rateable value with a minimum £5,000 and a maximum £50,000, increasing after three months of non-compliance to 20%, with a minimum £10,000 and maximum £150,000.
If you would like any help in deciding how to improve the EPC rating of your building, please contact us to discuss low and no cost energy efficiency changes and thermal imaging for prioritising works.
