PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE ENERGY PERFORMANCE OF BUILDINGS (CERTIFICATES AND INSPECTIONS) (ENGLAND AND WALES) REGULATIONS 2007 (THE EPB REGULATIONS)
1. Summary of the changes to the EPB Regulations

The changes to the EPB Regulations can be summarised as follows:

• the changes will extend the current requirements to commission an EPC that apply to residential buildings to all residential and non residential buildings when sold or rented out;

• the requirements for the provision of an EPC with written particulars will be extended to all buildings sold or rented out and the option to attach the asset rating will be removed. The requirement will only extend to the first page of the EPC (the EPC consists of two pages, accompanied by four pages of recommendations); and

• the requirement for the statutory lodgement of air conditioning inspection reports onto the central EPC Register.

The following summary details the main changes that will be made in relation to EPCs.
2. Commissioning an EPC before marketing
A number of changes will be made to regulation 5A of the EPB Regulations. In general, the onus remains on the ‘relevant person’ (i.e. the seller or landlord) to commission an EPC before marketing. The main changes are as follows:

• the duty to commission an EPC before marketing will be extended to the sale and rent of residential and non-residential buildings;

• the current 28 day period within which an EPC is to be secured using ‘reasonable efforts’ will be reduced to 7 days;

• if after that 7 day period the EPC has not been secured the relevant person will have a further 21 days in which to do so.

3. Power to Require the Production of Documents
Trading Standards Officers (TSOs) currently have the power to require the ’relevant person’ (i.e. the seller or landlord) to produce copies of the EPC for inspection and to take copies if necessary. The power to require the production of documents will be extended to include persons acting on behalf of the seller or landlord – e.g. estate agents and letting agents. This means, for example, that TSOs will be authorised to require estate agents to produce evidence showing that an EPC has been commissioned where they are marketing a building without one.
4. Clarifying when an EPC is required
This technical amendment to Regulation 5 is intended to remove the erroneous belief that the provision of the EPC can be delayed until shortly before the parties enter into a contract for sale or rent. This will be achieved by deleting the words “before entering into a contract to sell or rent the building or, if sooner” in Regulation 5(2)(b) of the EPB Regulations. Page 1 of 2
5. Consequential changes
A number of consequential changes will be made to enable TSOs to enforce the new duties.
6. EPC Information in Written Particulars
Currently, for residential sales only, the relevant person or his agent is under a duty to either attach the EPC to written particulars or include the asset rating on those particulars. The amendments will require the EPC to be attached to written particulars in relation to buildings sold or rented out. The option to include the asset rating will no longer apply.
The existing definition of ‘written particulars’ will be expanded to ensure that particulars produced for rented out buildings and commercial properties are captured by the new requirements.
As an exception to this requirement, provision is made to allow the person subject to the duty to provide the written particulars to omit the address of the building from a copy of the EPC where the address has been omitted from those particulars.
7. Statutory lodgement of air conditioning inspection reports
The requirement to lodge air conditioning inspection reports on the central Non Domestic EPC Register will become a statutory requirement, replacing the current voluntary approach.
8. Commencement
DCLG intends to bring these changes into force on 6 April 2012. Further information and additional interim guidance will be issued shortly.

DCLG
23 September 2011

Independent Energy Assessors Ltd (IEA) announces the launch of a sister organisation called E Advantage Ltd.

E Advantage Ltd will be the new proposition to market for Energy Management Systems to the standard BS EN 16001 and Environmental Management Systems to the standard ISO 14001 from IEA.

Demand on IEA for these standards is growing and given the current market positioning which primarily focuses on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. (EPBD), means there is a need for a new offering and identity to the market for the provision of these services.

E Advantage is set to help businesses of all sizes with implementation and compliance to these standards, by providing a unique commercial approach to environmental issues, helping businesses to pull their environmental achievements through to their marketing and brand. Securing existing markets and discovering new business opportunities.

Visit E Advantage at www.e-advantage.co.uk for more information.

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IEA are able to procuce Energy Perfomance Certificates across Buckinghamshire and indeed for commercial properties we offer national coverage. We are able to provide free compliance advise to companies and individuals. We specialise in assessing the energy perfomance of all buildings, both commercial or residential properties. To take advantage and obtain free compliance advice and a quotation call us on 01280 812909.

IEA are now able to produce Land Registry compliant Lease Plans for our clients.

Lease plans are now required by Land Registry under Rule 24 LRR 2003. The plans must be drawn to specific rules laid down by Land Registry and submitted with the appropriate completed forms.

Let us know if you would like to know more about this service, we offer competitive rates and where we are instructed to produce an EPC at the same time discount those rates and produce your Lease Plan in one visit to the property.

Our environmental credentials extend well beyond producing EPCs. IEA can also produce environmental policies and environmental management systems (EMS). The aim of EMS is help a business manage their environmental impact through their trading activities and demonstrate this in accordance with ISO standard 14001. Once this is in place an functioning they can achieve this ISO accreditation. The benefits do not stop at achieving the accreditation, but implementing an EMS helps to reduce the running costs of the business through efficiencies made in almost every department and area. The system is managed using a web based software application that makes management reporting and accreditation easy.

Businesses are constantly striving to maintain their competitive advantage, holding their market share and keeping costs under control. EMS is a great additional tool in the box through which these things can be achieved.

If you are considering implementing an environmental policy or system then we can help. Call us to talk through the benefits to your business and the environment of having a robust easy to use system.

I have two buildings exactly the same why are the EPC ratings different?

This is a situation that crops up from time to time when we have assessed ‘sister’ industrial units with the same or very similar building design and layout.

One of the factors assessors take into consideration is the activities that occur within a building. When we model a building for an epc we assign specific activities, such as office, meeting room, toilet, industrial process area, workshops, warehouse ECT. Each activity has a different impact on the rating, so where two buildings are the same, the activities may not be. For example if we compare an office with a meeting room, the software model assumes less activity for a meeting room as it is likely to used less than an office and so emits less C0² producing a better rating for exactly the same floor space.

There is currently a wide ranging review of commercial EPCs being conducted by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG). With particular emphasis on the quality of work being delivered by assessors and the subsequent accuracy of any EPC lodged.

IEA welcome this review as we have always strived to put quality before price. We always use fully qualified assessors who visit every site in person and are responsible from start to finish for the EPC undertaken.

The review will take the form of a report which will be ready in the autumn of this year and we will keep you posted on any changes in practise that may be recommended.

We continue to receive many enquiries for compliance advice in connection with commercial EPCs and we are always ready to help with interpreting government guidance in this area. Generally interpretations can vary widely given the fact that these are new regulations and it is up to each assessor to decide what is the best course of action to recommend to their clients. The guidance issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG), can sometimes be difficult to understand, but we here at IEA have now had considerable experience with a wide range of scenarios ranging from buildings scheduled and then rescued from demolition. To small shops that are less than 50m2 that are not detached but still need an EPC and building of low energy demand that do not need an EPC.