When is a Commercial EPC required?

A Non-Domestic Energy Performance Certificate (commonly called a Commercial EPC) is required when you build, rent or sell a non-residential property. You must order an EPC for potential buyers and tenants before you market your property to sell or rent.

You must also obtain an EPC if there are changes to the number of parts used for separate occupation and these changes involve providing or extending fixed heating, air conditioning or mechanical ventilation systems.

An EPC may also be required to take advantage of certain schemes. One common example is to claim feed-in tariff (FIT) payments.

Exemptions

Some buildings don’t need an EPC. However, these regulations have been devolved and so different rules apply in different administrations (parts of the UK). They are also linked to the respective building regulations and so some of the exemptions only apply in very specific circumstances. For example, you might think a church or mosque would automatically be exempt as a place of worship but that is not always true. You have to consider the way all parts of the building are used carefully and, whilst parts of the building might be exempt if they were separated, the building as a whole may not be. If you are unsure you should contact experts for advice.

Currently, in England and Wales, exemptions are in place for buildings that are:

places of worship
temporary buildings that will be used for less than 2 years
stand-alone buildings with total useful floor space of less than 50m²
industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings that don’t use a lot of energy
due to be demolished by the seller or landlord and they have all the relevant planning and conservation consents
due to be demolished and the site redeveloped by the buyer or tenant where they are sold or rented out with vacant possession and the buyer or tenant has applied for planning permission to demolish it
some listed buildings – you should get advice from your local authority conservation officer if the work would alter the building’s character

In Scotland different regulations apply. These do not exempt listed buildings and are more limited. The exemptions currently in place are for:

temporary buildings with a planned time of use of two years or less
workshops and non residential agricultural buildings with low energy demand
stand-alone buildings with a total useful floor area of less than 50m² which are not dwellings.

Here at Rowley’s Commercial Energy Assessment we’re not in the business of selling you our services unnecessarily. If you need advice please contact us and we will do our best to help with your specific circumstances. As we also deal with domestic assessments we can also assist if you require a Domestic EPC instead.

Caution: Do not rely on an exemption without taking specialist advice. Many of these exemptions have specific definitions which are not as obvious as they first seem and the consequences of getting it wrong can be significant!

Who is responsible for obtaining the inspection and report?

The person who controls the operation of an air conditioning system must:

ensure an inspection has been done in accordance with the requirements and timetable of the regulations;
keep the most recent inspection report provided by an energy assessor; and
give any inspection report to any person taking over responsibilities with respect to the control of the air conditioning system.

If the control of an air conditioning system is passed to another person and that person has not been given an inspection report by the previous operator of the system, the system must be inspected within three months of the new operator of the system taking over such control.

The person who controls the operation of the system is the person who controls the technical functioning of the system, not someone who does no more than adjust the temperature or whose only responsibility is to adjust the controls. This will usually be the owner of the system even where day to day operation is contracted out to another person or organisation. However, where a tenant takes total responsibility for a building and its services (e.g. full repairing and insuring lease), then the tenant will control the system and have these responsibilities.

Further information is available in the Department for Communities and Local Government publication Improving the energy efficiency of our buildings – A guide to air conditioning inspections for buildings (December 2012, ISBN: 978-1-4098-3725-1).

What does an Air Conditioning Energy Inspection involve?

The inspection will examine the refrigeration and air moving equipment that are part of air conditioning systems and their controls. It will also examine any documentation that helps to understand the system, or indicates the extent to which the system has been maintained. The energy assessor is also required to estimate whether the system is suitably sized for the cooling loads in the treated spaces and to provide advice on ways in which the performance of the system might be improved.

Access will be required to equipment that may be located in plant rooms, or outside the building, including rooftops or other locations with limited provision for access. In all cases the building owner or manager must agree the means for safe access with the energy assessor. The energy assessor may need to be accompanied by the responsible building manager or maintenance agent at all times.

Some additional access is likely to be needed, for example to the inside of air handling units or ducts. This must be provided and supervised by the responsible building manager or maintenance agent with due regard to the safety of the energy assessor and to building occupants. This would require the system to be turned off to allow safe access, so arrangements may need to be made for this outside working hours to avoid disruption to business. Similarly, the energy assessor may need to access a sample of components, such as fan coil units, which may be hidden above suspended ceilings. Again, access should be provided by the building manager or maintenance agent.

The building owner or manager should not expect the air conditioning inspection to identify hazards or unsafe aspects of the installation, operation or maintenance of systems that should be identified and addressed by other arrangements, nor should they expect the energy assessor to fix any problem identified as part of the inspection.

Air conditioning inspections carried out for the purposes of the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations are not specifically designed to assess the risks to public health, although the energy assessor is required to inform the building owner or manager, of a potential issue. The aim of the air conditioning inspection is to address energy performance, but the energy assessor is also required to confirm that the relevant person has undertaken the necessary checks to ensure there is no Legionella risk as required by the Health (Legionella) Regulations 2001.

Source: Improving the energy efficiency of our buildings – A guide to air conditioning inspections for buildings, December 2012, Department for Communities and Local Government, ISBN: 978-1-4098-3725-1.

How can I check if there is a valid EPC on a domestic property? How can I check the current rating?

There are lots of reasons you may wish to check a Domestic EPC. You might want to find out if you already have a valid EPC for your property or see what improvements you can make to save money on your energy bills. You may have lost a paper copy of a certificate and need to obtain a replacement.

In the United Kingdom all EPC’s have to be lodged on central registers for each administration. These registers are available online to search and download EPC reports in pdf format. Each administration has its own register and you must comply with the terms and conditions for using these sites. Typically you can search using the postcode and address or the Report Reference Number printed on the report or provided by the Energy Assessor.

England & Wales

In England and Wales the central register held by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

www.epcregister.com

Scotland

In Scotland all Domestic EPC’s have to be lodged on a central register held by the Energy Saving Trust.

www.scottishepcregister.org.uk

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland all Domestic EPC’s have to be lodged on a central register held by the Department of Finance and Personnel.

www.epbniregister.com

What is “Green Deal”? Are other funding options available?

You may have heard about the Green Deal initiative or seen reference to it on your Energy Performance Certificate. Green Deal was a government backed scheme to help fund improvements that would bring about savings to your energy bills. Under the scheme the government would fund loans to help meet the initial cost of the improvements which you would then pay back as part of your future energy bills. The idea was that the repayment costs would be offset by the savings in your bill so you would not have to find the extra money to pay for the improvement. However, the government has stopped funding the Green Deal Finance Company which was set up to lend money to Green Deal providers to fund improvements under the scheme.

The scheme is now operating in a new format and is funding some projects. A full relaunch is expected soon and Green Deal assessments are still available. You can find out about the scheme by visiting the Green Deal Finance Company website.

However, Green Deal finance is not the only way you can fund improvements and other financial packages are available. In addition to normal loans there are specialist financial packages and grants available. Some of these take the form of more traditional loans and mortgages which could still be repaid from savings in the energy bill and may offer lower interest rates. We make no recommendation in relation to any of the financial packages available and advise that you seek your own independent financial advice.

Other providers include:

Major banks and building societies

Ecology Building Society – Sustainable savings and mortgages

Portman Asset Finance – Finance for businesses to install renewable technologies

Carbon Trust Financing – General information, grants and loans

Salix Finance – Funding for the public sector

Do I have to follow the EPC recommendations?

Put simply, no.

When the Energy Performance Certificate is issued it will include some recommendations to help you save energy, reduce your energy costs and reduce your CO₂ emissions. The certificate will also give you an idea of the typical cost of making these improvements and the savings you might see on your energy bills.

However, these improvements are not mandatory and it is up to you to decide whether or not you want to make them. You will want to consider how quickly the savings will pay for the improvements and what impact the changes will have on your property. In some cases you may not even be permitted to carry out the necessary works for example, you may live in a conversation area and the changes may not be permitted.

In the future some buildings with very low ratings may have to have improvements carried out to improve their overall rating. Even so, it will be up to the owners to decide which improvements they wish to make. From April 2018, landlords will not be permitted to rent out most properties in England and Wales with an F or G EPC rating to a new tenant.

When is a Domestic EPC required?

A Domestic Energy Performance Certificate (commonly called an EPC) is required when you build, rent or sell a residential property. You must order an EPC for potential buyers and tenants before you market your property to sell or rent.

An EPC may also be required to take advantage of certain schemes. One common example is to claim feed-in tariff (FIT) payments.

In Scotland, you must also display the EPC somewhere in the property, e.g. in the meter cupboard or next to the boiler.

Exemptions

Some buildings don’t need an EPC however these regulations have been devolved and so different rules apply in different administrations.

Currently, in England and Wales, exemptions are in place for buildings that are:

temporary buildings that will be used for less than 2 years
stand-alone buildings with total useful floor space of less than 50m²
some buildings that are due to be demolished
holiday accommodation that’s rented out for less than 4 months a year or is let under a licence to occupy
some listed buildings – you should get advice from your local authority conservation officer if the work would alter the building’s character
residential buildings intended to be used less than 4 months a year

In Scotland different regulations apply. These do not exempt listed buildings and are more limited. The exemptions currently in place are for:

temporary buildings with a planned time of use of two years or less

Here at Rowley’s Commercial Energy Assessment we’re not in the business of selling you our services unnecessarily. If you need advice please contact us and we will do our best to help with your specific circumstances. As we also deal with commercial assessments we can also assist if you require a Non-Domestic EPC instead.

What is a Domestic EPC? How long is it valid?

A Domestic Energy Performance Certificate (commonly called an EPC) contains information about a property’s energy use and typical energy costs. It also provides recommendations about improvements that can be made to reduce energy use and save money. An EPC gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years.