Landlords and MEES time

If the term “MEES” doesn’t mean anything to you, then you really should read on because it could have major implications for many sectors of the housing (landlords) and insurance marketplaces.

What is MEES?

Governments around the world are desperate to reduce the energy consumption of their societies.

Some are motivated by Green environment concerns. Others are driven by the painful practical realisation that there is a large gap between the forecasts for our civilization’s future energy production capabilities and the forecasts showing the massive growth in its consumption.

Even the most optimistic projections for sustainable energy sources don’t look like coming even remotely close to being able to supply the growing demands for relatively clean energy. So, barring what at this time seems to be the highly unlikely prospects for a major revolutionary scientific breakthrough in fusion, governments are being forced to consider major energy-saving programmes.

MEES (or “Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards”) is one of the government’s efforts to drive a reduction in energy consumption targeted specifically at landlords and let properties.

The application

In a nutshell, MEES will mean that from 1st April 2018, it will be illegal to let a property that does not meet certain minimum stands for reduced energy consumption. This is based upon the alphabetic letter allocated on the now very well-known energy consumption survey and subsequently issued Energy Performance Certificate or EPC.

If a let property is graded in the “F” or “G” bands, then from April 2018 it won’t be possible for a landlord to let it unless they’re granted a special exemption. A failure to comply with the regulation could result in a penalty of up to 20% of the rateable value of the property after three months.

This, it is hoped, will drive energy-efficiency work on many properties that currently do not rate highly in this respect.

There may be at least some limited assistance available through the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) system. This basically obliges energy supply companies to help with the costs of some upgrades by installing insulation and other such help either free of charge or at advantageous prices.

Insurance implications

While, at face value, this doesn’t seem to affect things such as landlord insurance, it might do so indirectly.

It seems likely that whatever assistance is made available, some landlords will be facing the need to spend potentially significant sums of money in order to ensure that their properties are compliant. If that’s the case, it might be predictable that they’ll be looking to make some savings elsewhere – including possibly looking for ever more cost-attractive deals on landlord insurance.

Another possible implication arises around the need for landlords to comply with all prevailing local and national legislation in order to keep their properties covered. The implications for MEES compliance, in this respect, will also need to be considered.

However, MEES is now a reality and it’s one that’s just over the horizon. All landlords and insurance professionals associated with landlord-related cover, should ensure that they’re fully up to date with the legislation and its implications.

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