Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES)

As stated in ‘The Private Rented Property Minimum Standard’, from April 1^st 2018, landlords of Domestic and Non-Domestic properties in England and Wales will need to demonstrate compliance with minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES), as defined above, in order to be able to rent them or renew tenancies.

Domestic and Non-Domestic buildings will be subject to the following requirements:

• from April 1^st 2018, landlords of non-domestic private rented properties may not grant a tenancy to new or existing tenants if their property does not have an EPC rating of Band E or above.
• from April 1^st 2023, landlords must not continue letting a non-domestic property which is already let if that property does not have an EPC rating of Band E or above.

This upcoming regulation will trigger a series of energy-improvement works in domestic and non-domestic properties, as the ability of landlords to rent them will be entirely dependent on their energy performance.

Landlords of non-domestic properties could be fined up to a maximum of £150,000 for letting a sub-standard property.

Exemptions in limited occasions will be considered, where it is demonstrated that all available improvements have been made and the property still remains below an E. However, in any case, landlords may wish to aim above the current requirement to achieve even greater energy savings, which is the target of the regulation in the first place.

45% of domestic properties with an EPC rating below band E are classified as fuel-poor. Non-domestic buildings are also responsible for approximately 12% of all greenhouse emissions in the UK with 60% of them still to be in existence in 2050. It is therefore reasonable that continuous efforts are made to improve the performance of these buildings.