This isn't only about avoiding a fine
Treat MEES as a compliance checkbox and you'll miss where the real cost sits.
- Running costs. A poor-performing building costs more to heat, cool and light – a cost that lands on whoever pays the energy bill, and increasingly turns up as a dispute at service charge time.
- Tenant demand. Occupiers are weighing sustainability credentials into leasing decisions more than they used to, and a weak EPC is an easy reason to rule out a building before it's even viewed. Fewer bidders on space usually means a lower rent achieved, not just a smaller shortlist.
- Cost and choice of finance. Green and sustainability-linked lending products exist specifically to reward better rated buildings, and some mainstream lenders now factor EPC risk into valuations regardless of whether you're chasing a green product. A poor rating can mean a worse rate, or fewer lenders willing to quote at all.
None of that needs a 2031 deadline to bite. It's live at every rent review, every refinance, and every viewing.
The standard that applies today
Since 1 April 2023, a landlord in England and Wales may not continue to let a non-domestic property with an EPC rating of F or G. This is the point most often misunderstood: the 2018 rules only caught you at the moment you granted a new tenancy, so a building let on a long lease could sit at F indefinitely. That gap closed in 2023. The duty now applies to buildings that are already let, mid-term, with no transaction to trigger it.
The consequence is that a non-compliant building is not waiting for a lease event to become a problem. It is a problem now, and the first person to notice is often a purchaser's solicitor, a lender's valuer, or a tenant's agent at rent review.
Distribution of the 998,164 unique commercial properties on the Energy Performance of Buildings Register for England and Wales, by current asset rating band. Buildings below B are shown from C rightwards.
What changed in 2026
For several years the working assumption across the industry was a two-step uplift: EPC C by 2027, then EPC B by 2030. A great deal of published guidance, including our own earlier material, was written on that basis.
That is no longer the position. The interim EPC C requirement for 2027 has been dropped. The policy now runs straight to a single B standard, and it is targeted rather than universal – it is aimed at larger buildings, where the carbon saving per pound of intervention is greatest.
The 2031 B standard and the 1,000 m² threshold
The forthcoming standard is EPC B by 2031, for non-domestic buildings over 1,000 m². Buildings at or below that floor area remain subject to the E minimum. The threshold is measured on the floor area recorded on the certificate itself, which matters: if your certificate records the area wrongly, it puts you on the wrong side of a line that determines which standard you must meet.
| Building | Standard now | Standard from 2031 | Points gap, typically |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over 1,000 m², rated C–G | E | B | 25–75 SBEM points |
| Over 1,000 m², rated B or better | E | B – already met | None |
| 1,000 m² or under, rated F–G | E – in breach | E | Varies |
| 1,000 m² or under, rated E–A | E | E | None |
The scale of the 2031 cohort is not small. On our analysis of the register, 74,738 commercial buildings in England and Wales are over 1,000 m² and currently rated below B. Every one of them needs either a route to B, a registered exemption, or a decision to take the building out of the lettable market.
Five years sounds like a long time. It is roughly one lease cycle. If your route to B depends on a plant replacement, that replacement has to fall due before 2031 or be brought forward at your cost; if it depends on fabric work, it has to fit a void or a tenant's fit-out. This is why sequencing matters more than measure selection, and why we build plans around the dates you already have in the lease.
Who the duty falls on
The duty falls on the landlord – the person granting or continuing the letting – not the tenant, and not the managing agent, though an agent may carry a contractual duty to advise. In a layered structure, each letting is looked at separately: a head landlord letting to an intermediate landlord, who sublets, can both be caught in respect of their own letting.
Where the works are physically in the demise, the landlord may need the tenant's consent to enter and carry them out, and may or may not be able to recover the cost. That is a lease question, not a regulatory one, and it is where most commercial MEES projects actually stall. See service charge and dilapidations and the consent exemption.
Penalties
Penalties for non-domestic property are calculated on rateable value, which means they scale with the building. There are two tiers, depending on how long the property has been let in breach.
| Breach | Penalty | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Let in breach for less than 3 months | 10% of rateable value | £5,000 | £50,000 |
| Let in breach for 3 months or more | 20% of rateable value | £10,000 | £150,000 |
| False or misleading entry on the Exemptions Register | Fixed | £5,000 | £5,000 |
| Failure to comply with a compliance notice | Fixed | £5,000 | £5,000 |
A publication penalty can be imposed alongside the financial one: the breach is published on the PRS Exemptions Register, which is public and searchable. For an owner whose counterparties are institutional, that is frequently the more expensive half. Full detail on penalties and enforcement, or estimate your exposure.
Exemptions
An exemption is not a loophole and it is not permanent. It is a registered, evidenced position that lasts five years and does not renew itself. The commercial grounds differ materially from the domestic ones – most importantly, there is no £3,500 cost cap. Instead there is the seven-year payback test: a measure is only required if its cost is repaid by the energy savings within seven years.
- All relevant improvements made – everything that passes the payback test has been done, and the building is still below the standard
- Seven-year payback – no relevant measure pays back inside seven years
- Third-party consent refused – tenant, superior landlord, planning authority or lender said no
- Devaluation – an independent RICS surveyor advises the works would reduce market value by more than 5%
- Wall insulation damage – expert advice that the insulation would damage the fabric
- New landlord – a six-month temporary exemption after acquiring an interest
Every one of these requires an evidence bundle that survives being asked for. The exemptions hub sets out what each ground needs.
What to do, in order
- Find the certificate you already have. Most owners have one and do not know its rating, its expiry date, or the floor area recorded on it. Look it up free.
- Check the floor area on the certificate, not the one in your asset register. It decides whether the 2031 standard applies.
- Establish whether the rating is evidenced or assumed. A large share of non-domestic ratings rest on default assumptions recorded because no evidence was supplied on the day. This is the single cheapest thing to fix.
- Sequence the work against your lease events, not against the deadline.
- Register an exemption if one genuinely applies – and diarise its five-year expiry.
Find the certificate you already have
Search the Energy Performance of Buildings Register for your building. It is free, there is no sign-up, and it takes about ten seconds.
Common questions
What is the minimum EPC rating for commercial property right now?
E. Since 1 April 2023 it has been unlawful to continue to let a non-domestic property in England and Wales with an EPC rating of F or G, unless a valid exemption is registered. Before that date the restriction applied only when granting a new tenancy.
Is the EPC C by 2027 requirement still happening?
No. The proposed interim requirement for non-domestic property to reach EPC C by 2027 has been dropped. Planning on the basis of a 2027 C deadline is now planning against a standard that will not arrive. The live question for most owners is the 2031 B standard and whether their building is caught by it.
Does the EPC B by 2031 standard apply to my building?
Only if it is larger than 1,000 m². Smaller non-domestic buildings remain subject to the E minimum. Across England and Wales that puts roughly 74,738 buildings in scope of the 2031 standard – about 7.5% of the commercial stock on the register.
Who enforces MEES?
Local weights and measures authorities – in practice, local authority trading standards. They can request evidence going back six years and issue a compliance notice before any penalty.
What if my EPC has expired?
An expired EPC does not itself breach MEES, but you cannot grant a new tenancy without a valid one, and a lapsed certificate usually means the rating is unknown rather than compliant. There are about 29,533 commercial properties on the register with an expired certificate that was rated F or G. More on expiry.
Do the rules apply to owner-occupied buildings?
No. MEES bites on letting. An owner-occupier is not caught – but the moment the building is let, sold with vacant possession into a letting, or refinanced against its letting value, the rating matters.
Sources
- Energy Act 2011, Part 1 Chapter 2 – legislation.gov.uk
- The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/962) – legislation.gov.uk
- Guidance for landlords of non-domestic private rented property – GOV.UK
- PRS Exemptions Register – GOV.UK
- Energy Performance of Buildings Register, bulk data extract, analysed by evenEco (998,164 unique non-domestic properties, England and Wales)
Legislation is cited to the version in force at the date below. We publish a corrections policy and amend pages when the law changes.