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New rules for commercial properties.

 

High street.
Thousands of shops, and almost one in twelve offices in London, risk being made unleasable  from Saturday as new energy efficiency rules take effect.

From April 1, all tenanted commercial property buildings across the UK, including shops, offices and warehouses, need an energy performance certificate rating of at least an E. The certificates indicate the energy efficiency of a building and are ranked from A, the most efficient, to G, the least. To get an A rating, a building needs to receive a score of 25 or under from an assessor. An E rating is given to commercial properties that score between 101 and 125 points.

Savills, the estate agent, estimated that about 185 million sq ft of retail space across the country is graded F or below.

There are exemptions. For example, if improvement works are not expected to pay for themselves within seven years, landlords are not required to carry them out. Despite the likelihood of many commercial properties falling into the substandard category, there is not expected to be a rash of businesses made homeless.

«The lease between the landlord and tenant stays valid, even if the landlord is in breach of the new regulations,» Caroline Andresier, a legal director in the real estate practice of Eversheds Sutherland, the law firm, explained.

From next week, the rules will tighten and make it illegal for landlords to continue letting out substandard buildings, regardless of whether the tenant is new or has been there for a while. However, there remains to be uncertainty about how well-policed the standards will be. «We haven’t seen or heard of that much enforcement of regulations,» said Richard Kaye, a director at BNP.

The rules are part of the government’s plans to achieve net zero by 2050. The UK Green Building Council estimates that the built environment is responsible for about a quarter of the country’s emissions.

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Comments

  1. Marcus27 March 2023 at 11:49

    It's good they are setting these measures in motion and also ok that they aren't (yet) forcing landlords to have all this done by next week. Landlords need time but they also need to know they do have to start working on these things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roberta27 March 2023 at 13:44

      I also want to see how they will enforce these measures and starting when because we need to do this and those who don't abide need to be found and punished. It's just fair that everyone follows the rules and gets rewarded or punished accordingly.

      Delete

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