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EPCs for Commercial Buildings
4.1 Providing information to prospective buyers and tenants
A valid EPC and recommendation report must be made available free of charge by the seller or landlord to a prospective buyer or tenant when non-dwellings are sold or let. This information should be provided at the earliest opportunity and no later than:
- when any written information about the building is provided in response to a request for information received from the prospective buyer or tenant; or
- when a viewing is conducted; or
- in any event, before entering into a contract to sell or let.
Whilst the Regulations state that an EPC should be provided free of charge to prospective buyers or tenants, a landlord may organise an EPC for the whole building and may be able to recover the cost of producing a certificate via the service charges. However, this will depend on how the lease is drafted. The Code of Practice on Service Charges (published by RICS) may provide further guidance:
An EPC does not have to be made available if:
- the seller has reasonable grounds to believe that the prospective buyer or tenant is unlikely to have sufficient funds to purchase the building or is not genuinely interested in buying or renting the building; or
- the seller or tenant is unlikely to be prepared to sell the building to the prospective buyer (although this does not authorise unlawful discrimination).
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