The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) make it unlawful to let a commercial property in England and Wales that fails the required EPC rating. Since April 2023 the current minimum is Band E for all lettings. The government has consulted on raising the standard to Band C by 2027 and Band B by 2030 — a change every commercial landlord needs to plan for now.
Since 1 April 2023 it is unlawful to continue to let any non-domestic property in England and Wales with an EPC rating of F or G, unless a valid exemption is registered on the PRS Exemptions Register. Enforcement is by the local Trading Standards authority, with penalties up to £150,000 per breach depending on rateable value and duration.
The government's current published direction of travel is a minimum of Band C by 2027 and Band B by 2030 for all non-domestic lettings. Portfolio landlords are already commissioning staged upgrade programmes because most 1970s–1990s stock cannot reach Band C on lighting and controls alone.
For non-domestic MEES the improvement measures a landlord is required to install are limited to those with a simple payback of 7 years or less. Every measure in our NDEAR advice reports is flagged against this test, so a landlord can separate the improvements they legally must fund from optional deeper decarbonisation measures.
A property may continue to be let below the minimum standard for up to 5 years if a valid exemption is registered — for example, if all cost-effective measures have already been installed and the property still fails, if a third-party consent (freeholder, planning, tenant) has been refused despite reasonable efforts, or if a qualified surveyor confirms improvements would devalue the property by more than 5%.
A defensible MEES compliance pack contains: the current EPC and SBEM model, the NDEAR (or equivalent advice report) showing which measures pass and fail the 7-year test, evidence of installed measures with post-works models, and — where relevant — the exemption registration with supporting documentation. We produce this pack as a matter of course for every MEES landlord we work with.
Since April 2023 the minimum EPC rating for any commercial letting in England and Wales is Band E. Properties rated F or G cannot legally continue to be let unless a valid exemption is registered on the PRS Exemptions Register.
The government's consulted-on direction of travel is Band C by 2027 and Band B by 2030 for all non-domestic lettings. Final regulations are pending. Landlords should assume the timetable will hold and plan staged upgrade programmes now, because most older commercial stock cannot reach Band C without meaningful fabric and services investment.
The £3,500 (including VAT) cost cap applies to the DOMESTIC MEES regime, not commercial. For commercial MEES there is no monetary cap — landlords must install any improvement measure with a simple payback of 7 years or less. This is why the 7-year payback test is the critical filter in every NDEAR advice report.
Penalties for letting a sub-standard commercial property are calculated on rateable value and breach duration, up to a maximum of £150,000 per breach. A public notice of non-compliance is also published on the PRS Exemptions Register, which most institutional tenants and lenders now check as part of due diligence.
Commission a Commercial EPC (if the current one is invalid) and an NDEAR advice report. The advice report tells you (a) which improvement measures pass the 7-year payback test, (b) what EPC band each raft of measures would achieve, and (c) whether the property qualifies for a registered exemption. Once you have that pack, decisions on funding, phasing and exemptions become straightforward.
Commission a MEES compliance advice report
Call 01392 980077 or get a quote online.