You must have heard a lot about MEES Regulations. Yes, they occupied space in the front page of newspapers and TV news headlines for quite some time.

Though there was a big noise about it, several people do not have absolutely any idea about it.

What is the need for declaring these regulations? Who administrates it and what is the significance of it from the common people’s perspective?

All such questions remain unanswered when ask a property dealer or broker? This article throws light on the fundamentals of MEES Regulations. It is important for everybody to know about it.

MEES Regulation is basically to meet the Carbon Reduction targets

It is part of the bigger global agenda of controlling the emission of greenhouse gases worldwide. Since the construction industry is amongst the biggest contributors, putting these regulations will help the environment greatly.

• As per the regulation, it will be invalid if a landlord renew, extend or grant the lease of privately rented property with the EPC Rating (Energy Performance Certificate) F or G. It is applicable from 1^st

• From the 1^st April of year 2020, the rule will be applicable for the existing lettings as well. For the existing commercial property lease, it will be applicable from 1^st April 2023.

What will be the implication of these regulations and how the stakeholders will get affected by the same? Let’s understand one by one.

Landlords

If landlords are found guilty of leasing, renewing or granting the lease of a sub-standard property, then they may have to face reinforcement action.

The local agencies may take necessary actions or ask the landlord to make the necessary improvement in the property.

Even if the property is in the category D or E, it may slip into rating F or G because the threshold value is going to increase very soon.

Tenants

Since landlords will want to close the lease before 1^st April when the regulations will be effective, tenants have a great chance of negotiating.

Nevertheless, they must remember that the regulations are applicable on sub-lease as well. Hence, they need to be careful if there are any plans of sub-leasing.

Some landlords may use dilapidation claim or service charge to shift the MEES compliance cost on the tenants, but it depends on the terms and conditions mentioned in the lease.

Developers

As the future developments will be covered under the new regulations, the developers will be given fixed timelines for being compliant.

Experts say that it gives a bright opportunity of capturing a substandard property at throwaway rates. Even if they need to spend money to make it compliant, it will be a profitable deal.

As there is a fleeting time left, everyone has to be aware of what are the salient aspect of MEES regulations.

If there is no clarity about it, experts suggest that one should seek help from professionals. Being ignorant would not help at all. Rather, it will lead to non-compliance. It could be very costly eventually.