As Peter Bill reminds us in this article for the Sunday Times (Office owners brace for a chill as WFH empties city centres (£)), more stringent "green" building regulation kicks in on Saturday 1 April 2023 (as part of minimum energy efficiency standards, or "MEES"). Plus, we anticipate that the relevant EPC thresholds will jump up starkly in 2027 and 2030 - for more detail, see this piece from Stuart Funiciello, partner at Hartnell Taylor Cook, in EG (MEES: Don’t bury your head in the sand (£)). 

Is it really the case that a quarter of landlords may be unaware of the timetable, as Bill reports? Are commercial landlords burying their heads in the sand? 

Perhaps, as Bill hints, there is an expectation that the government will push back the "unreasonably short" EPC timeline. As it stands, the 2027 and 2030 requirements are not law - we still await feedback from a government consultation of March 2021. With plenty of economic distractions, is it inevitable that timings will slip? 

Let's hope not. "MEES" regulation may be a rather blunt tool but unquestionably, since it was originally enacted back in 2015, it has focussed many landlord minds. Increased stringency is surely the sensible next step? And for the sector, perhaps the worst outcome of all is continued uncertainty...