When is a commercial EPC not required?
Updated 23 October 2026 · SEO Dons Editorial
A commercial EPC is not required in three situations. The building may be in an exempt category under regulation 5 or regulation 8 of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012. It may not be a “building” for EPC purposes. Or nothing may have happened that triggers the duty. Only the first is a true exemption. If you are working out whether your own building needs a certificate, start with do I need a commercial EPC?
Which buildings are exempt from needing a commercial EPC?
GOV.UK says you do not need an EPC “if you can demonstrate” that the building is in one of the categories below. Each row links to the guide that covers that category in full.
| Category | What the rule says | Detailed guide |
|---|---|---|
| Officially protected buildings | Buildings protected as part of a designated environment or for special architectural or historical merit, but only so far as meeting minimum energy performance requirements would unacceptably alter their character or appearance | Do listed commercial buildings need an EPC? |
| Temporary buildings | Temporary buildings with a time of use of two years or less | Do temporary buildings need an EPC? |
| Places of worship | Buildings used as places of worship and for religious activities | Do places of worship need an EPC? |
| Low-energy industrial and farm buildings | Industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings with low energy demand, and farm buildings in a sector covered by a national sectoral agreement on energy performance | Do workshops, industrial and farm buildings need an EPC? |
| Small detached buildings | Stand-alone buildings with a total useful floor area of less than 50 m² | How floor area is measured on a commercial EPC |
| Buildings to be demolished | Two routes under regulation 8, explained below | This page |
The words “if you can demonstrate” put the burden on the seller or landlord, so keep the evidence with the property file. Relying on an exemption that does not apply risks the penalty for not making an EPC available, which GOV.UK puts at £500 to £5,000 based on rateable value.
How do the demolition exemptions work?
GOV.UK describes two situations. A building is exempt if it is due to be demolished by the seller or landlord and they have all the relevant planning and conservation consents. A vacant building is also exempt if it is to be sold or rented out with vacant possession, is suitable for demolition on a site that could be redeveloped, and the buyer or tenant has applied for planning permission to demolish it.
Regulation 8 splits the detail by duty. For a non-dwelling, the duty to make an EPC available to a prospective buyer or tenant falls away where vacant possession, suitability for demolition and a redevelopable site can be shown and the relevant person believes on reasonable grounds that the buyer or tenant intends to demolish. The duty to commission an EPC before marketing falls away only if all the demolition consents and a planning permission for the redevelopment also exist.
When is a structure not a “building” for EPC purposes?
Regulation 2 defines a building as “a roofed construction having walls, for which energy is used to condition the indoor climate”. The non-dwellings guide turns that into four tests.
- Conditioning means fixed heating, mechanical ventilation or air-conditioning. Hot water and electric lighting do not count.
- Energy used directly to heat or cool a process does not count, so a building with no other conditioning needs no EPC.
- A unit with no fixed services, and no ability to include them, needs no EPC.
- A shopping-centre unit that does not share conditioning with the concourse and has no heating, or ability to have heating, of its own is not a building for the purposes of the regulations.
These cases sit outside the definition rather than being excused from it. The position changes if services are intended: a building sold or let without fixed services, but with an intention to install them, needs an EPC based on its planning use class.
When is an EPC not needed even though the building is not exempt?
An EPC is tied to events, not ownership. The guide says an EPC “is only required when a building is constructed, sold or rented out”. None of these four situations is an exemption, so the next trigger will need an EPC.
- Nothing is being sold, let or built. Existing occupiers and tenants need no EPC unless they sell, assign or sublet their interest.
- A valid EPC already exists: entered on the register no more than 10 years before it is made available, with no later EPC since. How long a commercial EPC is valid has the detail.
- The deal is not a sale or rent. The guide lists transactions that do not count, including lease renewals and extensions, and certain sales of shares in a company that owns the building. See commercial lease renewals: EPC and MEES rules.
- The works do not change the number of separately occupied parts. An internal refit with new heating or ventilation does not trigger an EPC unless the building is also converted into more or fewer parts for separate use. Refurbishment or extension: do you need a new EPC? explains the test.
How is an EPC exemption different from a MEES exemption?
Both are called exemptions, but they sit in different regulations and do opposite jobs. An EPC exemption means the building falls outside the certificate duties. A MEES exemption is for a letting that is covered by the minimum standard but sits below band E, and it assumes an EPC exists.
| EPC exemption | MEES exemption | |
|---|---|---|
| Law | 2012 Regulations, regulations 5 and 8 | 2015 Regulations, Part 3 |
| What it excuses | The seller or landlord from the EPC duties for an exempt building | The landlord of a covered letting rated below E from the bar on letting it |
| Needs an EPC? | No | Yes: most registrations include a copy of the valid EPC |
| How it is relied on | The owner must be able to demonstrate it | Self-certified and registered on the PRS Exemptions Register before it can be relied on |
The link runs one way. The landlord guidance says the minimum standard applies to rented properties that are legally required to have an EPC, and that where a property is not, “an exemption will not be required”. A genuinely exempt building therefore has nothing to register. For a covered letting that rates F or G, see the MEES exemptions guide and how to register one. Most fixed lettings of six months or less and leases of 99 years or more are outside MEES altogether, as the MEES compliance page explains.
Is the exemption for protected buildings going to be removed?
The government has said it intends to remove it, but that is not law. In its partial response to the consultation on reforming the energy performance of buildings regime, it said it intends to bring forward regulations, subject to parliamentary approval, and that its intentions include “removing exemptions for heritage properties”. The consultation had proposed that “all heritage buildings are required to have an EPC”, and it described the existing exemption as regulation 5(1)(a), the first row of the table above.
Two cautions apply. The response frames the change as consistency “across the private rented sector” and does not say in terms how it would apply to commercial buildings, so read it as a signal, not a rule, for non-domestic property. And the timetable has moved: the Scottish Government’s update of 24 August 2026 says the UK Government has publicly committed to implementing its reforms during “the second half of 2027”. On 22 October 2026 legislation.gov.uk showed no known outstanding effects on the 2012 Regulations, so regulation 5(1)(a) stands as written. The law behind commercial EPCs maps where each rule sits.
Sources
- Energy Performance Certificates for your business premises, GOV.UK, checked 22 October 2026.
- Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/3118), regulations 2, 5, 7, 8 and 9, legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives), checked 22 October 2026.
- Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives), checked 22 October 2026.
- Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/962), regulations 20, legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives), checked 22 October 2026.
- Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015, Schedule, legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives), checked 22 October 2026.
- A guide to Energy Performance Certificates for the construction, sale and let of non-dwellings, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK) (11 December 2017), checked 22 October 2026.
- Non-domestic private rented property: minimum energy efficiency standard, landlord guidance, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (GOV.UK) (5 May 2026), checked 22 October 2026.
- Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime: partial government response, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (GOV.UK) (9 March 2026), checked 22 October 2026.
- Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime (consultation document), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (GOV.UK) (9 March 2026), checked 22 October 2026.
- Energy Performance Certificate Reform: updates, Scottish Government (gov.scot) (24 August 2026), checked 22 October 2026.
Common questions
Does a short lease avoid the EPC rules?
No. The EPC exemptions are about the building, not the length of the lease, so a short letting of a building that needs an EPC still triggers the duty. MEES has its own scope: most fixed lettings of six months or less and leases of 99 years or more are outside it.
Who decides whether an exemption applies?
No application route appears in the sources read; GOV.UK says you must be able to demonstrate that the building is in a category. For protected buildings, the non-dwellings guide says owners will need to take a view and may wish to seek advice from their local authority conservation officer.
What happens if I rely on an exemption and I am wrong?
The seller or landlord can face the penalty for not making an EPC available to a prospective buyer or tenant. GOV.UK puts it at between £500 and £5,000 based on the rateable value of the building.