Is my property affected by the new MEES regulations or are there exclusions and exemptions?

This legislation will affect most private rented properties in England and Wales; however there are some excluded buildings: listed buildings or other officially protected properties, buildings that are occupied for under 4 months of the year, temporary buildings used for less than 2 years, and buildings with a usable surface area of less than 50 sq. m.

Further to these excluded buildings, there are some exemptions that may apply to your property. These exemptions permit properties to remain below the minimum E rated EPC if:

• The landlord is not provided the consent of the occupying tenant or a contractually required third party’s consent to carry out any improvements.

• The required changes would result in a devaluation of over 5% of the property value

• The cost-effective improvements have already been undertaken and failed to suitably increase the rating.

• The landlord is unable to carry out the cost-effective changes, as a result of failing the credit check needed for Green Deal finance.

• Specifically relating to wall insulation, if this measure is advised against by an independent installer, because it could impact the structure of the property.

If one or more of these exemptions applies to you and your property, it is required to notify the PRS Exemptions Register, a government operated service that will open on 1st October 2017. Failure to notify the Exemptions Register will result in the exemption being deemed invalid and the landlord can be fined for non-compliance.

Local authorities will be enforcing these new regulations, and if they deem a property to be non-compliant they can serve a compliance notice. If the evidence provided following this compliance notice is insufficient, the local authority may then issue a penalty notice of up to £5,000.

Landlords of affected properties are being urged to act now to avoid higher compliance costs involved in bringing properties up to standard, to keep within the law and to ensure properties can continue to be let.

For further assistance speak to a ludlowthompson representative.