With over 25 years experience practising from the City of London the firm has a broad range of skills and contacts in all aspects of commercial property development and investment.  We are expert in landlord and tenant matters.

All types of mixed development work are undertaken including planning and land acquisition stages through to pre-lettings and finance agreements.
Call for a discussion about your personal or corporate needs.

EPC's

You have probably heard about EPC’s in connection with Home Information Packs for residential property sales.
The legislation, which is based on a European Directive, regulates EPC’s and also contains provisions that relate to commercial properties.
EPC’s have been phased in for commercial buildings according to their floor area as follows – 
over 10,000 square metres from 6 April 2008;
over 2,500 square metres from 1 July 2008; and
with effect from 1 October 2008 all properties, commercial as well as residential, will require an EPC when they are built, sold or rented. 

EPC’s are prepared by a qualified assessor who will inspect the building and having carried out calculations to assess the energy efficiency of the building, will issue a certificate with a rating similar to those seen on white goods.  An ‘A’ rating is at the top of the scale and the lowest rating is a ‘G’.

In addition to issuing the certificate, the assessor will provide a building owner with a recommendation report with suggestions for improving the energy efficiency and reducing the energy costs of the building.

An EPC for a commercial building has a life span of 10 years in contrast to those for the sale of a residential property that must be no more than 12 months old when the property is first marketed.

A copy of the EPC and recommendation report must be given to any prospective buyer or renter of the property, free of charge, at the earliest opportunity – when an enquiry is made or the property is viewed.  It must certainly be provided before contracts are exchanged or a lease or tenancy agreement is signed.

We  recommend clients to put in hand an inspection for an EPC in advance of the start date to avoid problems regarding the availability of an assessor or gaining access to a building. 

We maintain a list of assessors that we use and can recommend and would be pleased to assist you in arranging for the preparation of an EPC for your building(s).  We may be able to arrange a discount on the price if the assessor is instructed to prepare certificates on a number of buildings in the same area.  Cost does of course depend on the size of the building(s) and we can, if you wish, obtain an estimate for you for your building(s).

You should also be aware that rules are also coming into force relating to the inspection of air conditioning systems.  Mandatory inspections will be required of such systems to ensure they are properly managed and maintained to ensure they do not consume excessive energy.  The dates to bear in mind for the first mandatory inspections to have been undertaken are –

4 January 2009 for systems over 250kW; and
4 January 2011 for all remaining systems over 12kW.

If you installed your air conditioning system after 1 January 2008 the first mandatory inspection must be carried out within 5 years of the system first going into service.  All systems must be inspected every five years after the initial inspection.

An energy assessor carries out these inspections and the report will include an assessment of the energy efficiency and the size of the unit in relation to the buildings needs along with advice on improvements, replacements and alternatives.

The obligation to arrange for these inspections for EPC’s and air conditioning rests with the ‘Relevant Person’ –

the building owner; or where the property is being sold, the seller; or if being let, the landlord. 

TSO’s are the enforcement officers for ensuring compliance with these regulations.  Fines can be imposed for breaches – up to £5000 in connection with a commercial building but only up to £200 for a breach relating to a dwelling.