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The Cost of EPC's
The debate about the validity of energy performance certificates for commercial properties rumbles on as we enter March 2010 – almost 2 years after it became a legislative requirement for the sale or lease of commercial buildings and yet conservative estimates consider that over 75% of the commercial property currently on the market is without a valid epc.
The first thing to ask is why is the legislation being so blatantly ignored? And you don’t have to look too far to find the answer.
The legislation came into effect in April 2008 for some commercial property and by January 1st 2009 the legislation applied to all commercial property that was on the market or coming to market. If we look back at when the economic crisis struck then we can see that the two problems are linked. Taking the landlord or commercial property owners perspective and suddenly finding yourself with a number of voids, having to reduce rents to retain tenants, losing tenants who are going bankrupt and then having to comply with new legislation requiring you to have an energy assessment undertaken at some cost before marketing your property - it is no wonder that landlords and property owners were prepared to take the risk of waiting until a sale or lease is agreed.
This was a new industry and together with those people anxious to carve out a new career and invest in themselves it also attracted the less than honourable individual who saw this as an easy way to earn money.
Soon there were hundreds of assessors out there, some qualified and some not and the industry realised that there were problems.
We also saw the advent of agencies springing up offering fast turnaround and very cheap pricing. In itself there is nothing wrong with this – after all we operate in a market economy and if you can buy a product or service cheaper elsewhere then that is what you can choose to do. However the flaws were starting to appear on various web site forums – it seemed once again that not every energy assessor was qualified to undertake the survey and some “assessors” were not even turning up to survey the property.
Part of the job of the energy assessor is to visit the property, in that way the assessor can better understand the building, its fabric, its HVAC systems and then an accurate assessment can be produced.
The qualified commercial property energy assessor will do a good job, it is the others you have to wary of and if you are using an agency to undertake your energy assessments make sure that the person they send is qualified – don’t be afraid to ask to see their accreditation, they should have it with them.
So the situation in these harsh financial times is that landlords and property owners have been reluctant to have an energy assessment undertaken as they have been afraid of the cost and they are not really convinced that it will be done properly. However by ignoring the problem the property owner and landlord is leaving themselves open to the potential of being fined for non compliance by the local Trading Standards Office, and fines can range for £500 to £5000.
Here at CEAUK we are all qualified to Level 4 and we take pride in the work we do, working in conjunction with a variety of property professionals our reputation is something we work hard to maintain. We operate a fast turnaround policy on assessments, our clients appreciate the service we provide and that ensures the continued sucess of our company.
If you want to be certain that your energy assessment is professionally undertaken, and more importantly is correct, then please contact our offices on 0870 770 8747 or email using the attached form and we will be pleased to assist.
Labels: CEAUK, commercial energy performance certificate, commercial epc, energy performance certificate, Grade II listed commercial property energy assessors, non domestic epc, trading standards fines
The New Year -2010
The New Year has seen weather that for a while seemed really quite nice – after all it is not every year we get snow that is that deep, you only had to look at the news reports to see and appreciate how much disruption the bad weather was causing.
It did not stop us though, where other companies failed to attend because of the bad weather we found that we were being called on to complete energy assessments and get them registered as soon as we could in order to prevent sales and leases from stalling in the due diligence process.
This really is to compliment those here at CEAUK who really pulled out all the stops to help, Pete’s old Land Rover – all too often the butt of jokes about how uncomfortable and slow it is really came into its own, the office staff who made it in and kept those of us out on surveys informed and when we returned supplied wonderfully hot cups of coffee and tea.
As I look out of the window now I see that the snow is disappearing and I never thought I’d be so happy to see rain – and the weather forecast is for more rain - so its a return to normality.
As the New Year progresses though please remember that we are hearing about how Trading Standards are now being encouraged to identify commercial properties that are being marketed without an energy performance certificate with a view to fining the property owners.
Don’t be caught out – contact CEAUK today on 0870 770 8747 or use this link
to contact us to discuss your requirements.
And finally a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all our existing clients and we look forward to continuing to working with you this year and welcoming more new clients.Labels: commercial epc, commercial property auction, commercial property energy assesment, Grade II listed commercial property energy assessors, New Year, save money on a commercial epc
How do I benefit from an EPC?
Did you know that commercial property accounts for almost 20% of the carbon emissions and energy consumption in the UK and it was for that reason that the government decided to act and introduce non domestic energy performance certificates as part of an EU Directive.
Here at CEAUK we are continually asked by landlords and agents if they need energy performance certificates and what is their benefit.
The simple answer to the first part of this question is – Yes, if you have a commercial property for sale or lease then you will need an energy performance certificate, there are exceptions, for example a stand alone building of less than 50m2 will not require an epc and there are others, telephone and ask CEAUK which buildings are exempt is the best solution if you are unsure.
The second part of the question relating to the benefit of an epc is relatively easy to answer but in these difficult times is one that landlords and property owners find hard to come to terms with as it just seems as though it is adding to their costs. The energy performance certificate once produced will provide the owner and potential purchaser with a simple colour bar chart indicating how energy efficient the property is. More importantly each energy performance certificate comes with a Recommendations Report and this is the bit that can help landlords and property owners. In fact if you are presented with an energy performance certificate without a Recommendations Report then you should ask to see the Recommendations Report.
To ascertain why the Recommendations Report is valuable you have to consider the effort that the assessor has to undertake to assess the building. It is not merely looking at the heating and lighting of the building to establish a value but the experienced assessor also has to research the building fabric itself and what improvements have been made, the assessor will need to know what happens in every part of the building as the activity has an impact on the energy consumption. It is a combination of all these factors that determine how energy efficient a building is. The danger is that by using an inexperienced, unqualified or under qualified assessor then the assessment is simply a waste of money.
The Recommendations Report will list ways that the energy performance of a building can be enhanced thus reducing on-going energy costs, making the building more attractive to potential investors, tenants and purchasers. It is truly amazing how little sometimes needs to be spent to improve the energy efficiency of a building and something as cost effective as replacing standard fluorescent tubes with more energy efficient lighting can result in some considerable savings on the running costs of a building. In certain instances we have discussed improvements with property owners prior to completing the survey to advise how they could improve the rating on the property and we find that as the Commercial EPC is valid for ten years (there are, as usual, exceptions) then this aspect is greatly appreciated by our clients.
You can contact CEAUK on 0870 770 8747 to discuss your requirements.
Labels: commercial energy performance certificates, commercial epc, commercial property energy assesment, energy efficiency, energy performance certificate, energy savings, less than 50m2
How to save money on a Commercial EPC
Since legislation was introduced requiring any commercial property that is to be marketed for lease or sale to have a valid energy performance certificate there has been much confusion. We here at CEAUK have tried to clarify the legislation and we like to think that we provide not just an excellent service but also a highly competitive one.
Recently we were asked to undertake a commercial epc on a property in Manchester and we were told that we would be competing against two other companies in terms of pricing and delivery – basically the client wanted the best price and the quickest turnaround and we decided to provide a quote.
That evening before going home I was just checking through a couple of properties that we had lodged commercial epc’s on in the week and in error I entered the address details of the property that we were about to quote on and found out something that would be of interest to the owners.
The next day we contacted the owners and their agent for this property in Manchester, a few questions about any works that had been done to the property revealed that no works had been undertaken for a number of years. We were then able to advise them a commercial epc had been undertaken and lodged on the premises some two months ago and there was actually no need for another epc.
We were about to quote £455 for this particular assessment, income now lost, on the plus side though – the landlord was impressed with our honesty and gave us another property to assess and it now looks like we are going to be his preferred agent in these matters.
It transpires that despite what we tell everyone about epc’s that there is still some confusion so if this is the case for you then please feel free to either call or e-mail us with your query or request for a quotation.
In this instance the landlord thought that because the property was withdrawn and then placed back on the market then a new epc would be required. As there had been no works done to the property in between times then no epc was required as one already existed. Why hadn't he gone back to the original epc suppliers to ask for a price? - they had charged him in excess of £650 which he thought was excessive.
By the way the other two companies that were invited to quote, according to the landlord one came in at £425 and the other at £565 but neither had picked up on the fact that an epc already existed.
We might not be the cheapest but we are the fairest. Labels: commercial energy performance certificate, commercial epc, commercial property energy assesment, save money on a commercial epc, selling or leasing commercial property
To EPC or Not?
It would seem that the legal requirement for energy performance certificates for commercial properties is not, at present, seen by all as a requirement. Over the last few months we have been actively looking at commercial properties for sale or for lease throughout the country, asking commercial agents not just for sales or rental details but also for copies of the energy performance certificates that should accompany the marketing details. Surprisingly few of the agents we have approached have the information available, many agents preferring to wait for a purchaser or tenant for the commercial property before instructing an epc to be undertaken. The logic seems to be that this is saving their landlord clients costs when in fact what they are actually doing is exposing their landlord clients to the possibility of fines. Since January of this year legislation has meant that any commercial property for sale or lease has to have a commercial energy performance certificate. It seems that this legislation is being overlooked by commercial agents and commercial property owners who only take action once there is a potential end user for the property. This is going to create a problem, Trading Standards Officers are responsible for ensuring that the legislation is enforced and if it is noted that a commercial property is for sale or lease without the appropriate certificate then Trading Standards have the power to levy fines. This is a situation that no-one wants to see arising, it is in landlords best interests to ensure that they have an epc in place, after all it is valid for upto ten years and having an epc on a property will ensure that the landlord does not incur additional punitive fines and costs. In fact both the landlord and agent may find it useful to have on file so that when the potential tenant or buyer's solicitor requets a copy it is already to hand rather than having to wait for one to be completed, no-one wants to lose a sale in the present market because some paperwork isn't in place. For further information please contact our offices. Labels: commercial energy performance certificate, commercial epc, energy efficiency, Grade II listed commercial property energy assessors
How it is possible to save money with an epc
Commercial Energy Performance Certificates still seem to be wildly mis-understood, many people see these as an unnecessary expense when it comes to selling or leasing a commercial property and we would be the first to admit that there is an expense involved – but that expense is one that can lead to considerable savings. The Energy Performance Certificate provides a rating for the property as it currently stands, it is an assessment of the heating and ventilation systems, the building fabric, glazing, lighting and source of energy. The building is then zoned as each room will have a different function and as a result of this the heating and lighting it uses will be different for each room / area. For example a warehouse will have a markedly different construction from an office block, the warehouse will have large vehicle doors compared to the personnel doors found in most offices. The heating for each in these areas will be different, you don’t normally find huge space heaters hanging from the ceilings of offices as you would in a warehouse. So you might expect that the warehouse was less energy efficient and that the heating bills were going to be substantially more however this is not necessarily so. How many times have you visited offices only to find that the heating is on and the windows wide open, not only is this adding to greenhouse gases by needlessly wasting fuel but the tenant/ landlords heating costs will be spiralling upwards, especially with the cost of fuel today. In this example it might be that the installation of thermostatic radiator valves would keep the room temperature at a comfortable level – and these can be bought and fitted relatively cheaply making long term savings that far outweigh the cost of a commercial property energy certificate. The energy assessment of a building identifies these obvious and less obvious potential savings and this is where landlords and tenants can save money and if it saves money then that surely has to be a good thing. Telephone our offices today on 0870 770 8747 to see how an energy performance certificate from CEAUK may be able to help save you costs and probably not cost as much as you think. Labels: commercial energy performance certificate, commercial epc, energy efficiency, energy performance certificate
Confused? You must want a Commercial EPC then!
The legislation surrounding the introduction of commercial energy performance certificates still seems to be causing some confusion for the less experienced commercial property energy assessor and in turn this mis-information is being passed around creating more problems so lets look at some "urban myths" surrounding commercial epc's.
My property is less than 50m2 so I don’t need a commercial epc do I?
Wrong – You will need a commercial epc if the property is attached to another property, for example if it is a semi detached or terraced property.
However if your property is detached and less than 50m2 then it will not require a commercial epc – the best example of this would be one of the older petrol stations, therefore a stand alone unit less than 50m2 would not require an epc.
I have a commercial property but there is no heating in it so I don’t need a commercial epc do I?
Sorry wrong again! If there is the expectation that the unit will have conditioned space, then an EPC is required. The EPC for the shell and core work is based on the maximum design fit out spec that is used for compliance under Part L of the Building Regulations. Part L ensures building work conforms to energy performance standards and the default maximum design spec will apply the 'worst' energy rating for the building under the energy performance targets in Part L. This will ensure the recipient of an EPC is aware of the energy performance implications of installing the full suite of services. Any subsequent fit out work, including installed services, will need to comply with Part L (as in or equal to ADL2B) and the associated energy performance targets.
OK so I need a commercial epc but my tenant will fit their own heating once they move in and as I have a commercial epc then they won’t need one will they?
Any services installed will still need to comply with Building Regulations. To comply with Building Regulations any services installed must meet energy efficiency requirements. Therefore the original EPC is still valid (subject to the EPC being less than 10 years old).
Here at CEAUK we are in regular contact with the relevant government bodies and advisory services relating to commercial property energy performance certificates or non domestic energy performance certificates as they are sometimes known. In this way we are certain that the information we pass on is relevant and upto date. All of our assessors are advised on any changes, they are all qualified - we do not use data gatherers, and we all undergo regular training and update sessions.
The fact that this is a relatively new industry does mean that as it evolves there will be individual interpretations on the legislation where it is vague. The problem for you is deciding which is fact and which is fiction and if you take the wrong advice it could cost you more
You could save yourself a lot of time, trouble and money by contacting CEAUK for advice and a quote either using the links here on this web site or by telephoning 0870 770 8747.
Labels: commercial epc, commercial property energy assesment, energy efficiency, less than 50m2, non domestic epc, offices, Part L Building Regs
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