andlords may fall foul of network regulations School heating upgrade? The school holidays are the perfect time to replace your old heaters with the Smiths range of Caspian Fan Convectors - Common variants are available from stock - Easy installation and ongoing maintenance - Industry leading five year warranty Industry experts warn that heat networks could pose new legal risks for landlords and developers Heat is now more regularly offered as part of a package of services to tenants, but to comply with the Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations 2014, suppliers have to install heat meters and issue bills based on actual consumption. Bundling heat costs within service charges runs the risk of civil and criminal proceedings, according to speakers at an event hosted by heat network data supplier Guru Systems. Heat networks are seen as a major part of the governments plans to decarbonise the UK economy, said Guru Systems managing director Casey Cole. They are a common planning requirement for developers in most cities and many new housing schemes in London must be on a heat network. That means more developers are adding the role of energy provider to their services. The Competition and Markets Authority and the government feel the sector now needs to be regulated to ensure sufficiently high technical standards and a quality experience for end users. Some landlords claim charging for heat based on metered consumption is not allowed for in their existing leases but, says Sandy Abrahams, partner at energy law firm Lux Nova, this would not be enough to avoid compliance with the regulations. It can be a criminal or civil offence not to comply so the safe approach is to assume the regulations will apply, and that will mean making preparations for amending those leases. - Manufactured in the UK Inaccurate EPCs putting illegal homes on the market 01245 324900 | sales@smithsep.co.uk SmithsEP.co.uk | @SmithsEP_UK | #ThinkSmiths Landlords may be renting out as many as 35,000 properties illegally because of inaccurate Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), according to a new report. Impacts of inaccurate area measurement on EPC grades, published by property technology firm Spec, claims that up to 2.5 million EPCs are probably inaccurate and, so, an estimated 35,000 E-rated properties should not be on the market. Discrepancies are emerging because the measurement techniques used by domestic energy assessors can lead to errors in floor-space calculations of as much as 27m2. The report states that a 1% difference in the area of a property could be turning E-rated homes into F-rated ones in some cases. Specs senior adviser, Antony Browne, said: Inaccurate EPCs present serious challenges and risks not only to property professionals, consumers and estate agents but also the environment. 8 March 2019 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Mar19 pp08-09 News.indd 8 22/02/2019 16:27