Commercial EPC for your sale or lease

Selling or letting? What you actually need

Most people booking a commercial EPC are not reading up on energy policy. They have an agent or a solicitor waiting on a certificate number. Here is the short version.

When you need it

Before the property is marketed, not at exchange. The EPC has to be commissioned before marketing begins and attached to the sales or letting particulars.

What your solicitor wants

The certificate number from the national non domestic register. That is the auditable proof of compliance. We give you the number as soon as it is lodged.

What we need from you

The address, the approximate floor area, and access on the day. Floor plans and any information on the heating and cooling speed things up and earn a 10% discount.

If there is a flat above

The commercial unit needs a non domestic EPC and each flat needs its own domestic one. We lodge both from the same visit.

If it is rated F or G

You cannot let it. You can still sell it, but the buyer inherits the problem and will price for it. The Recommendation Report that comes with the certificate lists what would lift it.

How much does a commercial EPC cost?

Commercial EPCs are priced on floor area, not bedrooms. Ours are fixed before the survey, include the SBEM modelling, the Recommendation Report and lodgement on the national register, and carry no travel charge anywhere we cover.

Buildings of 4,000 m² and over are quoted per job. Price depends on floor area and the complexity of the heating, cooling and ventilation, because each system has to be modelled separately. A building with air conditioning takes longer to assess than one with gas heating alone.

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When you do not need a commercial EPC

Not every non domestic building needs one. You are outside the requirement if any of these apply:

• Standalone buildings under 50 m² that are not dwellings.
• Places of worship and buildings used for religious activities.
• Temporary buildings with a planned life of two years or less.
• Industrial sites, workshops and non residential agricultural buildings with low energy demand, meaning the building is not heated or is heated only to keep it frost free.
• Buildings due to be demolished where the seller or landlord holds the relevant planning and demolition consents.
• A valid existing EPC, because one lasts 10 years and covers any number of sales or lettings within that period, provided the building has not been materially altered.

Listed buildings are a common point of confusion. They are not automatically exempt. The exemption applies only where meeting the minimum energy performance requirements would unacceptably alter the building's character or appearance, and that has to be judged case by case.

The rules in 2026, and what changes in 2031

The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards set the lowest rating a commercial property can hold and still be let. Here is the confirmed position.

Today

It is unlawful to let a commercial property rated F or G. The minimum is EPC E, and that has applied to continuing tenancies as well as new lettings since 1 April 2023.

EPC C by 2027

Dropped. In its interim response of 18 June 2026 the government confirmed the proposed 2027 milestone will not be taken forward.

From 2031

Privately rented non domestic buildings over 1,000 m² are proposed to need EPC B, where the work is cost effective. Buildings under 1,000 m² stay on the EPC E minimum.

Cost effectiveness

The 7 year payback test continues to apply, so only improvements that pay for themselves within seven years can be required. Existing exemptions remain.

Still to come

Full detail and the legislation are expected in the government's response to the consultations. Nothing above EPC E is law yet.

Source: MEES in the non domestic private rented sector: interim response, DESNZ, 18 June 2026.

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