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News/Articles
| New Legislation for Landlords |
15/01/2010 15:44:40 |
From October 2008 landlords offering property for rent will be required by law to provide prospective tenants with an Energy Performance Certificate for their property.
The certificates (EPCs) will have to be provided free either when (or before) any written information about the property is provided to prospective tenants or a viewing is conducted. They will not have to be provided if the landlord believes the prospective tenant is unlikely to have sufficient funds to rent the property or is not genuinely interested in renting, or the landlord is unlikely to be prepared to rent the property to the prospective tenant.
A new certificate will not be required on each let since, in the case of rental property, EPCs will be valid for 10 years.
The requirement is being introduced to comply with the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which applies to all property, including rented property. This became law in 2003 and allowed until January 2009 for full implementation so as to provide time for sufficient numbers of Energy Assessor to be trained.
The Directive's requirements have been introduced into English and Welsh law along with the Home Information Pack regulations that require sellers to produce packs providing information about their title, local searches, plus an EPC.
So far as energy performance is concerned, the regulations require an EPC when a building is constructed, sold or rented out. When included in a HIP related to a property sale, the EPC should be no more than 12 months old when the property is first marketed. In other circumstances EPCs have a 10 year life.
Local authorities can choose which body has responsibility for enforcement, but in nearly all cases, this will be Building Control (for new build) and Trading Standards (for existing buildings). Communities and Local Government is the Government department responsible for EPCs. Accreditation schemes are the bodies which all Energy Assessors must join in order to produce EPCs - they ensure the standards of assessors' work.
Enforcement agencies have the power to ask to see an EPC for the property, and to issue a penalty notice if the right certificate is not in place. There are no powers of entry.
Trading Standards would have access to the Landmark Registry (where certificates are stored) if they needed to check that the right certificate has been produced for a property.
Investigations by enforcement agencies may be necessary in order to establish whether a breach of the Regulations (which are law) has taken place.
Enforcement agencies have the power to issue penalty notices. In the first instance, a person can ask for the enforcement agency (eg Trading Standards) to review the case. After the enforcement agency reviews the case, if it upholds the penalty notice, the person can appeal to the county court for them to hear the case.
When a person receives a penalty notice and pays a fine for failure to provide an EPC they must still provide the EPC. This means that if, following the fine, they still failed to provide a certificate, another penalty notice could be issued. If a landlord rented out a property without an EPC and then later sold the property without an EPC, this would be two separate breaches. The penalty charge specified where the building is a dwelling is £200.00.
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