Whether you are a tenant or a commercial building owner, you must know your legal obligations when entering a lease arrangement. Building regulatory authorities have formulated various laws and guidelines for the safety of the buildings and the occupants.
Every aspect of a building is covered under these rules and regulations such as safety against fire, electric, and gas hazards. Some general guidelines need to be followed by commercial landlords. But some rules and guidelines are mandatory, such as getting various certificates before leasing your commercial property.
A commercial landlord must obtain various certificates for his property before offering it to the tenants. These certificates are mainly aimed at ensuring the safety of the occupants, such as gas safety certificates. Let’s see what certificates a commercial landlord need.
A gas safety certificate is one of the most important certificates a landlord must have. This certificate is issued by a gas safety engineer after a comprehensive inspection of all gas installations and appliances. Only an engineer registered with the gas safe register can do this sensitive job.
Gas safety inspection aims to identify defects and faults in the gas pipelines and other gas installations in the building. Any fault detected by the gas engineer will have to be rectified instantly enabling him to issue the gas safety certificate.
This certificate is valid for one year. Non-availability of this certificate may result in legal consequences, including penalties.
Energy performance certificate (EPC) is also referred to as Commercial Energy Performance Certificate (CEPC) for commercial properties. It is an estimation of the energy performance of a commercial property. It gives you an estimate of how much cost will be involved in lighting and heating your property. Apart from identifying the areas where the building is inefficiently utilizing energy resources, it also recommends how to improve it.
The CEPC rates a commercial building from category A to G, where A stands for the most efficient and G is in-efficient. This certificate is valid for 10 years. Failure to produce a CEPC for your commercial property may attract huge penalties.
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A boiler is the most sensitive gas installation. So, it is important that the boiler must be installed and regularly maintained, and serviced by a professional and qualified gas safety engineer.
Under building regulations, obtaining the boiler installation certificate from the concerned authorities is legally required. If a landlord fails to produce a boiler installation certificate, he may face legal complications including heavy fines.
Electrical Safety Standards Regulations, introduced in 2020, deal with safety against electrical hazards. All commercials require this certification. Under this law, a commercial landlord must get his property inspected and certified for electrical safety once every five years.
Only a qualified electrical engineer is authorized to carry out this inspection. Once the engineer gives an electrical safety certificate, the landlord must provide its copy to all existing tenants within 28 days.
Every commercial building must have various portable electrical appliances. PAT or portable appliance testing is an inspection that identifies the defects and faults in these electrical appliances. While most defects can be identified by visual inspection, some serious faults might need proper testing. Although any responsible person can perform this inspection, a qualified electrician should do it.
In addition to the mandatory inspection and certification, as discussed above, a few are no longer legally required. But it is recommended that commercial landlords must also get them done for the safety of the occupants of their property.
Compliance with rules and regulations is the responsibility of every citizen. These regulations are formulated to ensure the safety of the people. Regulations governing the safety of commercial properties bound landlords to carry out periodic surveys and inspections and get various certificates.
These certificates need to be shown to the tenants. Failure to do so may result in a legal situation for you, including fines. Hence you must be aware of the legal requirement of such certificates. Don't miss out. Get them without fail.
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