Rural Estates Newsletter February 2023 - Flipbook - Page 18
6 – Don’t MEES the boat
Elizabeth Earle
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On 1 April 2023 it will become unlawful to continue to let commercial
properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of lower
than E, bringing them into line with domestic properties, where this
has been the case since 1 April 2020. This, coupled with the rising cost
of energy, makes it timely to revisit the application of the Minimum
Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) to rural estates, where buildings and
dwellings may typically be older and harder to bring up to the required
minimum standard.
What is within the scope of MEES?
To recap, MEES relies on the EPC regime, which predates it and was brought in to
improve market awareness of energy (in)efficiency and cost. In brief:
•
MEES applies to all privately rented properties in England and Wales which are
legally required to have an EPC and which are let on a relevant tenancy type, be that
domestic or non-domestic. Where buildings are exempt from needing EPCs, such as
low energy use agricultural buildings, they also fall outside the scope of MEES.
•
Domestic private rented properties include dwellings let on an assured tenancy
(including assured shortholds), a regulated tenancy under the Rent Act 1977, or a
domestic agricultural tenancy (such as those under the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976).
•
Non-domestic private rented properties are defined as buildings let under a
qualifying tenancy (terms of less than six months and more than 99 years are
excluded) and which are not a dwelling.
Where MEES applies, the rules from 1 April 2023 will be that it will be unlawful to let, or to
continue letting, any domestic or non-domestic building with an EPC rating lower than E,
unless an exemption applies and is registered on the Exemptions Register. This presents
a particular challenge to rural estates, which usually possess a range of traditional
buildings, from old workers’ cottages to stables converted for commercial use.
MEES on the rural estate
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•
Listed buildings: the question of whether listed buildings are within the scope
of MEES is circular and easily misunderstood. To be clear, listed buildings are not
automatically exempt from the requirement to have an EPC, nor, by extension,
the requirement to comply with MEES. The legislation is nuanced and states that
“buildings officially protected as part of a designated environment or because of
their special architectural or historical merit, in so far as compliance with certain
minimum energy performance requirements would unacceptably alter their
character or appearance” do not need an EPC. The qualification “in so far as” is the
crux: a listed building is within the scope of MEES, and required to have an EPC, if
changes could be made to it to bring it up to the required standard, but only where
those changes would not unacceptably alter its character or appearance. In practice,
of course, it is likely that changes such as new windows and doors would indeed
unacceptably alter the character of the property. Hence the circularity. The safe
position is to commission a (draft) EPC, to prove that what the EPC recommends (to
make the property comply with MEES) cannot be done.
•
Farmhouses: where farmhouses have been let as part of an agricultural holding
after October 2008, either as part of a farm business tenancy, or on an Agricultural
Holdings Act tenancy, they require an EPC. Farmhouses are not referred to in the
Rural Estates Newsletter
February 2023