energy performance certificates

Property Energy Advice

From September / October 2011 the legislation covering  EPC's will be extended to all  commercial sales and lettings.

Landlords and Agents will be required to provide the certification within 7 days not 28.  Inspection will also be tightened so that Trading Standards can require selling and letting agents to produce evidence that an EPC has been commissioned.

The regulations will also be amended to remove the provision that an EPC can be provided at any time up to exchange of contracts. The EPC must now be attached to written particulars for commercial premises marketed for sale or rent. It has never been more important to ensure you comply with the Energy Performance Certificate regulations so speak to one of our specialists now. 

You can e-mail us at RL@ritchielambor.com ring us for a chat on: 0207 593 0493  /
01273 710 707 - or click here to fill in our quote form.

We provide extensive advice in this new and growing area. We have a number of specialists who can work with property occupiers and owners across the south east on achieving a more efficient property with lower CO² emissions and lower costs.
To comply with recent government legislation, we have a substantial team supplying the following;

Commercial Energy Performance Certificates  - Commercial EPC’s  

We provide this service throughout the south east. We are fully conversant with this legislation and can advise on the appropriate certification, whether an EPC is required and how to achieve a higher rating to create a more valuable and efficient building.

Display Energy Certificates - DEC's

We provide these certificates to Government bodies in accordance with regulations. These are required for all public authorities or institutes providing a public service with a floor area of over 1,000 sq m.

Domestic Energy Performance Certificates - EPC’s

Often referred to simply as an EPC this is required as part of a home information pack on any sale. They are also required for all buy to let properties. We have a number of Domestic Energy Assessors and can provide these certificates quickly and cheaply.

Why commercial epc’s are required

From the 4th January 2009, it has now become a legal requirement to provide a Commercial Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) with the sales particulars for any commercial property that is to be marketed for sale or to let in England and Wales. All properties need an EPC before being laced on the market.

The Commercial EPC comes in two parts, the now familiar ‘fridge’ style graph and 8 pages of recommendations the EPC rates the energy efficiency of the building by applying zoning methods to calculate the energy efficiency of the building and estimating how much carbon dioxide escapes into the atmosphere. It will give each property (or part of a property) a rating from A-G.

Unlike the EPC software used for residential property, the Commercial EPC software makes many fewer assumptions, so the Commercial Energy Assessor has to collect much more data and comment on the fabric of the building and the services in much more detail. The Commercial Energy Assessor has to be more qualified and skilled and the whole energy assessment process takes significantly longer.  The result being that the Commercial EPC is significantly more expensive than its residential counterpart. Fees will vary from £350 to £3,000 per building, depending on the size, complexity and heating and cooling facilities of the building. The agent marketing the property must provide an EPC with the sales particulars and free of charge, to all prospective purchasers or tenants. Failure to do so would make the property owner liable to a fine from the local trading standards officer of between £500 and £5,000 based on rateable value of the property concerned.

Why display energy certificates are required

 

A guide to Display Energy Certificates and advisory reports for public buildings

The purpose of introducing Display Energy Certificates (DECs) is to raise public awareness of energy use and to inform visitors to public buildings about the energy use of a building. DECs provide an energy rating of the building from A to G, where A is very efficient and G is the least efficient and are based on the actual amount of metered energy used by the building over a period of 10 months.

An affected organisation must display a DEC in a prominent place clearly visible to the public and have in its possession or control a valid advisory report. The advisory report contains recommendations for improving the energy performance of the building.

The introduction of DECs will for the first time give publicly accessible information on the energy performance of public buildings. It is important not only that the public sector complies but that it is seen to be setting an example. Environmental performance is increasingly important to reputation. Accordingly if there is any doubt over whether a DEC is required, it would be good practice to produce a DEC in any event.