Communities and Local Government

• Planning, building and the environment
• The Environment
• Energy Performance of Buildings
• Other buildings
• Energy Performance Certificate (public and commercial buildings)
• Advice to landlords, builders and solicitors

Planning, building and the environment

Advice to landlords, builders and solicitors

Rental

When buildings are to be rented out, the landlord is responsible for ensuring a valid certificate is made available to all prospective tenants.

The EPC and recommendation report must be made available free of charge by a landlord to a prospective tenant at the earliest opportunity and no later than:

• when any written information about the building is provided in response to a request for information received from the prospective tenant; or
• when a viewing is conducted; or
• if neither of those occur, before entering into a contract to sell or let.

An Energy Performance Certificate does not have to be made available if:

• the landlord believes that the prospective tenant is unlikely to have sufficient funds to purchase or rent the property or is not genuinely interested in renting that type of property; or
• the landlord is unlikely to be prepared to rent out the property to the prospective or tenant (although this does not authorize unlawful discrimination)

The letting of commercial buildings can be complex with floors let to different tenants, and with a mixture of retail, office and residential accommodation. The EPC required for any space you offer for sale or let must reflect the accommodation on offer. More information can be found on When are Energy Performance Certificates required?

An EPC for rented property is valid for ten years.

The only person who is able to produce an Energy Performance Certificate is an accredited energy assessor. More information can be found on How to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate.

On Construction

An Energy Performance Certificate is needed when a building is built. It is the responsibility of the builder to provide an EPC. This will also apply if a building is converted into fewer or more units and changes are made to the heating, hot water provision or air conditioning/ventilation services.

Energy Performances Certificates tell owners and potential buyers and tenants about the energy efficiency of a building and how it can be improved. They come with a recommendation report which includes advice and suggestions on improvements you could make to save money and energy. The certificate also shows the rating that could be achieved if all the recommendations are followed. In the case of new buildings the recommendation report will be shorter as most money-saving improvements will have already been included in the design.

When the building is physically complete, the builder must obtain an EPC for the building, provide the EPC to the new owner and notify the local authority building control officers or approved inspectors that this has been done.  This must be done no later than the time specified by the building regulations. Building regulations include standards for the energy performance of new buildings which builders must adhere to in order to comply with building regulations.

Once building control are satisfied the EPC has been properly produced and provided to the relevant party, they are able to issue a final completion certificate.
The only person who is able to produce an Energy Performance Certificate is an accredited energy assessor. More information can be found on How to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate.

If you are selling a building before it has been built, you will need to provide information about energy efficiency in a Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA). This is simply the predicted SAP and Environmental Impact (CO2) rating from the SAP calculations you do at the design stage to check whether you will meet energy-saving targets. You can use a spreadsheet template to create the graphics from the SAP rating. There is no need for PEAs to be produced by an accredited assessor and they do not need to have a recommendation report.

On Sale

Since 1 October 2008  all buildings require an Energy Performance Certificate and the seller is responsible for ensuring one is made available to all prospective purchasers at the earliest opportunity.

Since 1 October 2008 all buildings require one.

The Energy Performance Certificate and recommendation report must be made available free of charge by the seller to a prospective buyer at the earliest opportunity and no later than:

• when any written information about the building is provided in response to a request for information received from the prospective buyer; or
• when a viewing is conducted; or
• if neither of those occur, before entering into a contract to sell.

An EPC does not have to be made available if:

• the seller believes that the prospective buyer is unlikely to have sufficient funds to purchase the property or is not genuinely interested in buying type of property; or
• the seller is unlikely to be prepared to sell the property to the prospective or tenant (although this does not authorize unlawful discrimination)

The sale and let of commercial buildings can be complex with floors let to different tenants, and with a mixture of retail, office and residential accommodation. The EPC required for any space you offer for sale or let must reflect the accommodation on offer. More information can be found on When are energy Performance Certificates required?

EPCs for commercial and public buildings are valid for ten years.
The only person who is able to produce an Energy Performance Certificate is an accredited energy assessor. More information can be found on How to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate.