Alistair Saenz

In this article, Commercial Property Solicitor Hannah Martin outlines everything you need to know about EPCs and the upcoming changes to them as well as discussing how you can prepare.

Energy Performance Certificates (or EPCs) are documents which evaluate the energy efficiency of a property and grade it anywhere from an A to a G based on how efficient a property is.

A rating of A is best rating available, with a G being the worst.

EPCs are valid for 10 years and remains valid for all transactions within this period.

When a commercial property is sold, rented or constructed an EPC must be in place. This is a legal requirement.

A Landlord will be required to ensure that a valid EPC is registered against the property for the entirety of a letting.

EPCs are regulated by the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015.

The regulations aim to reduce the carbon dioxide emission of property’s and ‘call out’ non-domestic properties which are not energy efficient.

Under the current regulations a Landlord is required to provide a valid EPC when granting a new lease of a Property.

This may be granting a new lease to a new tenant or renewing a lease with an existing tenant.

The EPC must have a rating of E or above for the Landlord to be able to lawfully let the property.

From 1 April 2023, a Landlord will not lawfully be allowed to continue any lease over a Property which does not hold a valid EPC rating.

Therefore, landlords should start looking to improve the EPC rating of a property where this is necessary.

The good news for tenants is that compliance with EPC regulations is ultimately the Landlord’s responsibility.

Breach of the regulations will not be sufficient for the landlord to refuse any lease renewal of the property nor will it affect the validity and rights available under any continuing leases.

There are some circumstances where a property may be exempt from requiring an EPC and are not required to comply with these regulations.

These include:

If a Landlord believes that the Property is exempt from the EPC regulations they are required to register this on the Private Rented Sector Exemptions Register to be recognised.

If there has been a breach under the EPC regulations, for example the Landlord has let a Property that has a rating less than E, the enforcement agency have up to 12 months to serve notice of the breach.

The landlord will then be required to undertake the necessary works to the property.

Landlord’s should be aware that failure to comply with the regulations can lead to a penalty of up to £5,000.

A landlord is not able to require a tenant to pay the penalty.

The only liability a tenant faces is if they fail to allow any enforcement agent access to the property when requested without a valid reason to refuse entry.

A landlord would be wrong to assume the costs of putting right a sub-standard property is the tenant’s responsibility or that they can reclaim the costs.

Many leases prohibit a tenant undertaking works to the property even when where they are required to keep the property is good and substantial repair and condition.

If you have any questions following this article, please feel free to get in touch with one of our bright experts.

AHD stands for “Analog HD” Similar technology to TVI and CVI in theory, but differs by video transmission signal digitization AHD technology

Bare International (wwwbareinternationalcom) is a worldwide market research company into mystery shopping We conduct Mystery Shopping PAN India and