The Certificates You Need to Let a Commercial Property
- The EPC is the only certificate the law requires you to provide to let, and the rating must be E or above unless an exemption is registered.
- A TM44 report for air conditioning over 12kW must be handed to the incoming tenant.
- The asbestos register, EICR, gas safety record and fire risk assessment are not conditions of letting, but a tenant’s solicitor will ask for every one.
- A schedule of condition agreed at the start protects both sides at the end.
Landlords often ask whether there is a certificate they need before letting a commercial unit, in the way a domestic landlord needs a gas safety certificate. There is no single document. There is one hard legal requirement, the EPC, and a set of records that a tenant's solicitor will ask for in the enquiries before exchange. Having them ready is the difference between a letting that completes in weeks and one that drifts for months.
The one you must have: the EPC
Regulation 6 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations requires a valid EPC to be made available to a prospective tenant and given to them when the lease is granted, and the minimum standard means the rating must be E or above. An EPC lasts ten years. If yours is F or G, you need improvement works or a registered exemption before you can lawfully let. Get the assessment early; the recommendation report tells you what the cheapest route to E is.
Also required where it applies: the TM44 report
If the building has air conditioning over 12kW, the most recent TM44 inspection report must be passed to the incoming tenant. See air conditioning inspections.
The ones every tenant’s solicitor asks for
The standard commercial property enquiries ask about every one of these. A missing answer is a delay and usually a price conversation.
- Asbestos register and management plan for any building built or refurbished before 2000, required under regulation 4. The tenant needs it before any fit-out. See asbestos surveys.
- Electrical Installation Condition Report for the installation being let, with any remedial works completed. See the EICR page.
- Gas safety record for any appliances, pipework or flues in or serving the demise. See gas safety.
- Fire risk assessment for the building and common parts, and the fire strategy. See fire risk assessment.
- Legionella risk assessment for shared water systems. See legionella.
- Planning and building regulations approvals for the current use and any alterations.
- Service and maintenance records for plant the tenant will take on.
Get the letting pack together
Run the free compliance check on the property you are letting and get a quote for every certificate you are missing.
The one that protects you: the schedule of condition
A schedule of condition appended to the lease records the state of the premises at the start. Tenants want it to cap their repairing liability; landlords should want it too, because it fixes the baseline for the dilapidations claim at the end and records that the compliance position was sound when the keys changed hands.
Putting the letting pack together
Assemble everything above before marketing, not after an offer. Agents and solicitors move faster with a complete pack, and the questions a tenant cannot get answered are the ones that become retentions or walk-aways. Our guide to landlord responsibilities covers what stays with you after the letting.
Filling the gaps
The free compliance check lists every duty on the property you are letting and gets a quote for each certificate you are missing, in one go.
Sources & further reading
- Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations 2012, regulation 6 — the duty to provide an EPC on letting
- GOV.UK: non-domestic minimum energy efficiency standard — the minimum E rating
- Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, regulation 4 — the asbestos register
- GOV.UK: air conditioning inspections for buildings — handing over the TM44 report
External links open in a new tab. ComSurv is a matching service, not a firm of surveyors, and is not affiliated with these organisations. This article is general information, not legal, surveying or valuation advice; take advice on your specific situation.
