The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2008

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007, which implement Articles 7 (energy performance certificate), and 10 (independent experts) of Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16th December 2002 on the Energy Performance of Buildings (OJ No. L 1 4.1.2003 p.65) (“the Directive”). The amendments concern various provisions related to energy performance certificates and related documents—

(a) regulation 2(2) amends regulation 11(4) to extend from twelve months to 3 years the validity of energy performance certificates to be included in a home information pack under Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004, and regulation 5 makes the corresponding consequential amendment to regulation 15(2) of the Home Information Pack (No. 2) Regulations 2007;

(b) regulation 2(3) amends regulation 14(2) to allow the disclosure by any person in possession or control of an energy performance certificate or accompanying document or data—

(i) by or to an energy assessor for the purpose of assessment of a dwelling,

(ii) by or to the Energy Saving Trust Limited of the address and energy performance rating only of a dwelling for the purpose of providing information to the occupier on financial support available for improving its energy performance or, on an anonymised basis, for statistical or research purposes, and

(iii) by or to an approved inspector for the purpose of functions under Part 2 of the Building Act 1984;

(c) regulation 2(4) corrects a minor drafting error in regulation 17(1)(e)(iii);

(d) regulation 2(5) amends the description in regulation 31(2) of the data that is required to be entered by an energy assessor on any register of energy performance certificates and related documents kept pursuant to that regulation;

(e) regulation 2(6) inserts a new regulation 34A that allows the keeper of the register to disclose to any person whether an energy performance certificate is registered for a specified building other than a dwelling and when any such certificate was issued;

(f) regulation 2(7) inserts new regulations 35A and 35B that allow the keeper of the register—

(i) to disclose to an energy assessor any document or data entered on the register concerning a dwelling for the purpose of assessment of the dwelling concerned or for any other purpose on behalf of its owner or tenant (regulation 35A), and

(ii) to disclose to the Energy Saving Trust Limited the address of any dwelling in respect of which an energy performance certificate in a performance category specified by that company has been entered on the register, for the purpose of providing information to the occupier on financial support available for improving its energy performance, or for use on an anonymised basis for statistical or research purposes (regulation 35B);

(g) regulation 2(8) inserts a new regulation 36A that allows the keeper of the register to disclose any document or data to an approved inspector in connection with functions under Part 2 of the Building Act 1984 in relation to the building concerned; and

(h) regulation 2(9) extends the transitional arrangements in regulation 51 for property on the market at commencement for a period ending on 4th January 2009 in relation to non-dwellings.

These Regulations also amend the Building Regulations 2000 (“the building regulations”) and the Building (Approved Inspectors etc.) Regulations 2000 (“the approved inspectors regulations”) in relation to their provisions implementing Articles 3 to 6 (adoption of a methodology, setting of energy performance requirements, new buildings, and existing buildings) of the Directive and Article 7 in relation to newly constructed buildings. In particular—

(a) regulation 3(2) amends regulation 17E of the building regulations to provide that the energy performance certificate given to the building owner at the end of construction, and the notice to the local authority that this has been done, must be given by the person responsible for the work no later than five days after the work has been completed, and that the notice should include the certificate’s reference number in the register of energy performance certificates;

(b) regulation 4(2) amends regulation 12 of the approved inspectors regulations, which apply to work where an initial notice has been served under section 47 of the Building Act 1984 and the approved inspector assumes building control functions, with corresponding effect, except that the energy performance certificate to the building owner and notice to the approved inspector must be given no later than five days after the work has been completed, or the date on which the initial notice ceases to be in force in consequence of regulation 18 (events causing initial notice to cease to be in force) of those regulations, whichever is the earlier;

(c) regulation 3(3) amends regulation 20D of the building regulations to provide—

(i) that the notice to the local authority to show compliance with the target emission rate for a newly erected building under regulation 17C of those regulations must be given no later than five days after the work has been completed,

(ii) that the certificate that the local authority may accept as evidence that the requirements of regulation 17C would be satisfied if the building were constructed in accordance with an accompanying list of specifications must be issued by an energy assessor, and

(iii) that the notice to the local authority showing construction in accordance with those specifications where such a certificate is given must be given no later than five days after the work has been completed;

(d) regulation 4(3) amends regulation 12D of the approved inspectors regulations with corresponding effect, except that notice must be given to the approved inspector no later than five days after the work has been completed, or the date on which the initial notice ceases to be in force in consequence of regulation 18 of those regulations, whichever is earlier.

A transposition note setting out how these Regulations implement the Directive and an impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business and the public and voluntary sectors are available from the Department for Communities and Local Government website or from the Energy Performance of Buildings Division of the Department (Tel: [phone]; Fax [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail]). Copies of both are also annexed to the explanatory memorandum to these Regulations, which is available alongside the Regulations on the OPSI website at www.opsi.gov.uk.