If MEES is to succeed, local authorities must clearly take a proactive approach to enforcement. The adoption of an “intelligence-led” reactive approach is insufficient and self-evidently not working.
Glass houses
Murmurs in the market suggest that some local authorities have consciously decided not to enforce MEES given the state of their own property stock.
It is very common for local authorities to own large property portfolios - a mixture of both commercial and residential assets. But with limited funding, there is a risk that local authorities are unable to improve their own property stock to the requisite MEES standard.
If the rumours are true, the reluctance of local authorities to enforce MEES against others is perhaps, understandable.
Fruits of their labour
The MEES regulations provide that any unpaid financial penalty is recoverable as a debt owed to the enforcement authority. However, it is not clear if local authorities would retain the fruits of their labour (or a substantial proportion of them) or whether the monies obtained are sent direct to HM Treasury.
If local authorities do stand to financially benefit from MEES enforcement, then perhaps trading standards teams have not been made aware. The retention of MEES related financial penalties should be a clear tangible benefit serving to incentivise a local authority to proactively enforce MEES.
Leadership
The lack of leadership and coordination from central government does not bode well for MEES enforcement going forward. Plans to raise the energy efficiency benchmark for domestic properties have been scrapped and the future application of MEES to non-domestic properties remains less clear than ever before as original plans to increase the energy efficiency benchmark to an EPC rating of C by 2027 and an EPC rating of B by 2030 will now almost certainly be delayed.
In light of recent government announcements, and with a UK general election on the horizon, we’re unlikely to see any increased MEES engagement from local authorities in the short term.
With real estate sustainability and ESG factors now forming a crucial part of the industry, the lack of MEES enforcement is a real concern. If MEES is to succeed, perhaps the regime needs an overhaul - or at the very least a shake-up. If local authorities are to retain the role of MEES enforcers, government must lead from the top and provide them with the resource and funding so desperately needed.
Future publications in our data-driven MEES series will tackle:
- Why MEES is still important to the real estate market;
- Survival of the MEES regulations and whether evolution is needed.
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