Landlords and tenants must work together to meet net zero carbon targets

Anne Johnstone and Clare Holyoake
Additional contact information
Anne Johnstone: Partner and Head of Environment, Energy and Sustainability, Hollis, UK
Clare Holyoake: Associate and Landlord and Tenant Matters Specialist, Hollis, UK

Journal of Building Survey, Appraisal & Valuation, 2020, vol. 9, issue 2, 166-173

Abstract: Almost one-third of the UK’s total emissions relate to the energy used in existing buildings. This paper discusses how it is clear that improvements in the energy efficiency performance of buildings (and the way in which occupiers use them) are absolutely central to the UK Government’s 2050 net zero carbon emissions target. It anaylyses how some of the impetus towards driving down operational energy usage is statute-led (such as the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting [SERC] regulations) but so too is the upshift in emand for greener buildings from occupiers and investors. The paper dicusses the numerous ways in which improvements can be made to a building and its services that may well improve its energy performance certificate (EPC), but also argues that it is vitally important to educate occupiers on ways in which their actions can have a huge impact on the building’s in-use performance. The paper discusses a significant hurdle to implementing energy efficiency improvements: currently, most commercial leases do not adequately address the issues involved, including often highly contentious areas such as consent for alterations, whether it is the landlord or the tenant that pays, and whether or not changes need to be reinstated at lease end. The paper analyses ways to address this: by moving the way in which leases are drafted towards the green lease model, such as that set out in the Better Building Partnership Green Lease Toolkit. Such leases include clauses which provide for environmental performance improvements, management and monitoring as well as the way reinstatement at least end is dealt with. In the paper concludes that, alongside implementing physical energy efficiency improvements, monitoring energy use and educating building users, landlords and tenants must forge a new, collaborative approach in order to reach net zero by 2050.

Keywords: net zero; carbon; refurbishment; green lease; dilapidations; landlord and tenant (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hstalks.com/article/5797/download/ (application/pdf)
https://hstalks.com/article/5797/ (text/html)
Requires a paid subscription for full access.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aza:jbsav0:y:2020:v:9:i:2:p:166-173

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Building Survey, Appraisal & Valuation from Henry Stewart Publications
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Henry Stewart Talks ().