New Display Energy Certificates for large public buildings

New Display Energy Certificates for large public buildings Are you energy efficient at home? Is your car fuel efficient? Do you recycle? From 1st October 2008 even your office, if you work in a large public building, will need to set out its environmental credentials through displaying a Display Energy Certificate (“DEC”).

Estimates suggest that buildings probably account for approximately half of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions, with homes and commercial property about equal in their total emissions.

The Government wants to encourage greater energy efficiency in buildings. The new DEC’s give an indication of the annual carbon dioxide emissions from a building. Their aim is to enable the public to compare the energy performance of public buildings and to promote improved energy use.

Guidance has been published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) aimed at helping the managers, owners and occupiers of large public buildings to understand the new requirements.

Click Here, to view the guidance notes.

Decision makes life harder for landlords on lease assignments

The recent case of Manton Securities Limited v Nazam [2008] EWCA Civ 805 shows clearly what can go wrong when a landlord does not take early firm action following an unlawful, informal assignment of a lease.

The landlord in this case became embroiled in problems back in 1997 when the original tenant vacated the premises allowing another person into occupation in his place, without a licence to assign and without a deed of assignment. Despite spending significant time and money in legal costs the Court granted a new lease to the new tenant for a term of 21 years even though the landlord knew he had a poor record of paying rent on time!

This is, of course, a situation that a landlord can often find himself in, through no fault of his own, because of the actions of a tenant. Once the situation has arisen, it is tempting for the landlord to try and resolve the situation through informal negotiation.

The decision reinforces that this approach can be a real gamble and lead to protracted, fruitless negotiation and even litigation. These problems could have been potentially avoided if the landlord had taken early, decisive action when the original tenant vacated

The House of Lords makes life easier for landlords

Tougher economic times make it particularly important that landlords preserve all possible rights against former tenants. Landlords should be enormously relieved by a recent decision in the House of Lords as it removes an onerous and unwelcome additional property management burden. It will also be easier for sellers of properties subject to tenancies and for buyers carrying out due diligence exercises.

The House of Lords determined that there is no longer a need for landlords to serve a succession of precautionary notices under section 17 of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (“the Act”) within six months of each successive quarter day so as to preserve their rights against former tenants (and any guarantors of those tenants) where there is an ongoing rent review.

The Act provides that landlords cannot recover any fixed charge (i.e. rent or service charge) from a former tenant (or guarantor) unless they had first served a default notice on the former tenant "within the period of six months beginning with the date when the charge becomes due".

In Scottish & Newcastle plc v Raguz [2008] UKHL 65, the House of Lords reversed the Court of Appeal's earlier decision which resulted in a position where landlords were required to give precautionary notices (specifying the amount due as "nil") to former tenants when a rent review had not been determined by the relevant rent review date, to ensure that they remained liable for the payment of fixed charges, even where there was no default by the current tenant.

The Lords held that, for the purposes of recovering sums from former tenants, the date that the additional rent under a rent review clause "becomes due" is the date when the increase has been agreed or determined.