A leading West Midlands commercial property agent has accused the Government of “sound-bite politics” over the threat to render hundreds of thousands of UK properties virtually unlettable.
Redditch-based John Truslove said the 2011 Energy Act was “unworkable”.
He charged: “The proposal is cosmetic, poorly conceived, sloppily thought through and impossible to implement.”
His attack follows the controversy over bringing secondary property up to soon-to-be required energy standards.
No later than 2018, and possibly sooner, all F- and G-rated residential and commercial properties will need to get “greener”. Estimates have suggested that up to 18 per cent of all commercial properties in the UK – around 600,000 – could be caught in the net.
And Redditch is just the sort of area where there is a significant stock of secondary property which may be vulnerable.
Mr Truslove cautioned: “If it ever happens it is going to be a real headache.
“Landlords could find some of their stock virtually worthless. It would mean heavy investment to get property up to the mark, which many landlords may not be able to afford or justify.
“The reality is that this is nice sexy sound-bite stuff yet behind this Act there is no substance at all.
“How do you give the thumbs up or the thumbs down to a building? The only way is to use Energy Performance Certificates, but these are only mandatory if the property is changing hands. They are not required otherwise. So there will be loads of properties without EPCs. How then, given we are talking about millions of sq ft of space, are you going to make a decision on whether a building should be upgraded or not?
“It is going to turn out like the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which was going to implement a register of brownfield sites across the country. At what level of contamination do you deem a site to be brownfield. There were all sorts of anomalies. Nobody wanted to be on it because if you were it more or less made your site unsellable. So the whole idea was abandoned.
“The Energy Act requirements will go the same way.”
Mr Truslove acknowledged that asbestos roofs had poor thermal qualities.
However he stressed: “There are many buildings up and down the country which have corrugated asbestos roofs. They are perfectly satisfactory so long as you do not disturb the asbestos. The thermal qualities are not good but it is the insulation which goes under the asbestos which is the crucial issue. Indeed the same question mark applies to some modern steel roofs. Many public buildings are supposed to have Display Energy Certificates, but most people ignore the requirement. The whole thing is a nonsense.”
He continued: “The sector has been under pressure from the UK’s wider economic troubles and the highly damaging void rates legislation.
“And, though everyone talks the green mantra, in practice they are reluctant to pay for it, meaning there is no premium for greener buildings, such as higher rents or values.
“This leaves landlords staring at a lose-lose scenario.
“I believe the Government should ease back on the pace of energy change. We seem almost to be leading the world on this yet are nowhere near one of the biggest polluters. This gold-plating of action is once again damaging our own economy.
“Sustainability targets are all very well and good. Most of us would like a greener world. But it has to come at an acceptable price and the legislation must be capable of sensible implementation.
“If it means an early end for what could still be viable properties, putting more people out of work in the process, then I would strongly urge the Government to think again.”