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Commercial property owners risk paralysing their portfolios if they are not in possession of energy performance certificates for each and every one of their properties following new regulations introduced on 6 April 2008 , according to the region’s fastest growing commercial law firm Bright LLP.

The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 require any commercial building with a usable floor area of over 10,000m2 to have an energy performance certificate. Furthermore, any premises over 2,500m2 will require one from 1 July 2008 . If you are not in possession of the certificate you will be unable to sell or grant leases, including short-term leases.

The legislation requires the certificate to be made available, free of charge, to any prospective buyer or tenant at the earliest opportunity and in any event before any contract to sell or rent the building is entered into.

For a certificate to be valid, it must be no more than 10 years old before marketing of the property commences and must have been issued by a suitably accredited energy assessor. It will also need to be accompanied by a recommendation report setting out how the energy performance of the building could be improved. It is therefore important for anyone who owns a building caught by these provisions to get in touch with an assessor in order to ensure compliance with this legislation, particularly because a person owning a large holding of properties could risk them lying empty in the event that they are not able to get hold of enough assessors to provide the certificates. At present there are only a small number of accredited assessors.

From 1 October 2008, buildings with a useful floor area over 100m2 occupied by public authorities and institutions that provide public services to a large number of people, will need a valid energy certificate clearly displayed on the premises. The certificate is valid for a period of 12 months. Occupiers of such buildings will also need to be in possession of an Advisory Report, which will remain valid for 7 years.

The energy assessments do not presently impose a requirement for buildings found to be energy inefficient to improve on their energy performance. However it is conceivable that business rates may end up being fixed based on the energy efficiency of a property.

Failure to comply with these regulations could result in a payment of a fine.

The only exclusions to the new regulations are for premises with a floor area of less than 50m2, places of worship and temporary buildings with a planned times use of 2 years or less, industrial sites, workshops and non residential agricultural buildings with low energy demand.

Looking further ahead, January 2009 sees the introduction of the requirement for air conditioning systems over 250KW to be inspected within 5 years and from then at intervals of five years. This will also be required in relation to less powerful systems from January 2011 - another job to be carried out by the accredited energy assessors.

For further information please contact Tomasz Dukanovich at Bright solicitors on 01752 764855 or tomasz.dukanovich@brightllp.co.uk