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Businesses on energy certificate deadline
Published January 2008
West Midlands businesses have just weeks to ensure that they are fully compliant with new Government regulations requiring commercial properties to have Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), property lawyers at mfg Solicitors are warning.
The clock is ticking down to April 6 when owners and landlords of commercial property in the United Kingdom will be required to instruct an energy assessor or inspector to survey the building, and issue a certificate of its energy performance.
Vanessa France, a property lawyer with mfg Solicitors, says that with only weeks to go there is confusion in the marketplace that may result in disagreements between landlords and tenants.
She also believes that in the long term the new regulations will affect how properties are valued, with their certificated “green credentials” establishing new criteria.
EPCs will be required from April for all newly constructed commercial properties and also on the sale or letting of property over 10,000 sq m.
On July 1 more commercial property will require them and from October 1 they will be necessary for the sale or letting of all commercial property.
The original October 2007 deadline for EPCs was revised following concerns that there would not be enough inspectors.
Ms France said: “EPCs record the energy efficiency and environmental impact of a building on a scale from A to G, with A being the most energy efficient and having the least impact through CO2 emissions.”
Government concern over the environment, climate change, and the need for sustainability, has resulted in a raft of new legal and regulatory changes.
Ms France warned that a lack of clarity in defining the new regulations could lead to confusion as to what constituted a building and subsequent disagreement between landlord and tenant.
“This could be a real issue in multi-let properties, for example shopping centres and office blocks and legal advice should be sought if a tenant in a multi-let building decides to sub-let or assigns its premises. It will have an effect on the whole of the building,” she said.
Ms France said this could have consequences for landlords trying to recoup costs of surveys from their tenants who had no interest in the transaction triggering the EPC, or were on short term or contracted out leases.
She also warned that Government predictions of the cost of a certificate being in the region of £1,790 may prove to be a significant underestimate for complex commercial premises.
“The price for an Energy Performance Certificate would be set by the market and not by the Government,” she said.
“The solution to avoid disputes would lie in the clear drafting of agreements to establish the costs of obtaining an Energy Performance Certificate as a recoverable expenditure.”
A major regional law firm, MFG Solicitors LLP has offices in Halesowen, Telford, Worcester, Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Wellington, Stourport-on-Severn, Bewdley, Cleobury Mortimer and Oswestry.
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