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17/12/25 3:30 pm
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Landlords and agents have urged the government to announce commercial EPC deadlines before buildings across major cities become unlettable.
While all residential landlords have been told they need to reach an EPC C by 1st October 2030, the commercial sector is still in the dark about when it will have to improve properties’ energy efficiency.
The government’s 2021 consultation sought views on a target of reaching an EPC C by 2027 and EPC B by 2030. However, the lack of a government response means that these targets are now completely unrealistic, according to the British Property Federation (BPF). It says commercial landlords need sufficient time to make investment decisions and ensure the regulations are implemented effectively.
BPF’s analysis of EPC ratings in major cities across England finds that 81% of commercial buildings have an EPC below B. It says any progress is slow and being hampered by the lack of a decision.
Propertymark has written to Martin McCluskey MP, Minister for Energy Consumers, asking for urgent clarity on MEES (Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard) regulations for commercial properties. It explains that commercial agents are increasingly being asked to advise landlords and tenants on long-term investment decisions, lease structures, and asset management strategies without any certainty on future energy efficiency requirements.
The trade body warns that that agents are already reporting growing concern from clients facing significant retrofit costs, uncertainty over who is responsible for improvements, and the risk of properties becoming unlettable if standards are introduced without sufficient lead-in time or support.
Rob Wall, BPF assistant director, says the Warm Homes Plan has left commercial landlords in the dark and out in the cold. “We have been waiting for five years for a decision on future minimum energy efficiency standards for the non-domestic private rented sector, it is beyond belief that ministers have kicked the can down the road once again.”
Jonathan Murton-Lavelle, MD at energy efficiency firm Murton & Co (pictured), agrees that the continued delay is having a destabilising impact on the market, not because landlords are unwilling to act, but because they are being asked to plan without a clear regulatory endpoint.
“MEES has been incredibly successful,” he adds. “The data shows how EPC ratings have shifted since MEES was introduced in 2018. The regulation is cost-neutral to government; with no grants or loans being offered to landlords, unlike the £15 billion provided to the residential sector under the Warm Homes Plan. The methodology and metric is not changing for non-domestic EPCs as it will continue to be about carbon emissions, unlike the domestic EPC which is to have a complete overhaul. So the indecision to implement phase 2 Non-Domestic MEES does seem incomprehensible.”
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