Date:  17 April 2008

ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES FOR COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections)

(England and Wales) Regulations 2007

As from the 6 April 2008 it became law that upon marketing for sale or lease of any commercial buildings with a useable floor area of more than 10,000 square metres, an Energy Performance Certificate (“EPC”) is required to be provided by the seller or landlord. 

Accordingly if you are a landlord or a property developer you will need to have an EPC available for the next time you wish to sell or rent your property.  Tenants who rent property should receive an EPC on change or renewal of their lease.  Certificates will also have to be available prior to purchase for prospective buyers of new or existing properties.

The requirement is to be rolled out as from the 1 July 2008 in respect of commercial buildings with more than 2,500 square metres floor area. 

Finally the requirement will be extended to the smaller sales and lettings as from the 1 October 2008. 

As of those dates no freehold sale or grant of lease can occur without the provision of an EPC and this would include short term negotiated leases, residential 6 months assured shorthold tenancies etc.  The owners of large property portfolios will need to move very rapidly to retain a sufficient number of energy assessors or be faced leaving premises vacant until the next available independent assessors arises.

The general rule is that an EPC will be needed before a building is marketed, which will require more advance planning that is currently needed. However transitional provisions say that for a building already on the market on the 6 April, a certificate can be ordered as late as the date as when contracts are exchanged. 

For buildings put on the market after those dates however the general rule applies, which is likely to cause some delays since there are very few energy assessors trained so far. 

It should be noted that the residential home inspector is not qualified to provide EPCs for commercial property. However it is understood the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors are helping to develop a system for accreditation and to devise a strategy in England and Wales for the training of suitable qualified inspectors.

Clive Vernon