UKH

I've just been tasked with getting an EPC and electrical safety certificate for our workshop at my work, as our landlord requires this in order to renew our lease. My first reaction was hang on, surely it's the landlords job to provide this for us, not the other way round? They are not budging so I'll have to do it I suppose, but has anyone heard of this before? It sounds like they are taking the piss to me.

PAT is a common requirement in a lease
EPC is surely the landlords responsibility if they want it. 
 

what does your lease say?

they are: see MEES requirements. 

In a residential letting it's the landlords responsibilty to get these, one would assume it's the same in a commercial let and this appears to confirm that

https://www.martinslowe.com/how-is-a-commercial-landlord-responsible-for-el...

It would be very odd for an intrinsic part of a building's structure not to be the responsibilty of the owner.

In reply to cezza:

An EICR isn't the same as a PAT test. Appliances belonging to the landlord are his responsibilty but not tenants appliances.

I don't know, I've just been given the job of sorting out these documents. I'm not expecting to fight this BTW, I'm just having a whinge and I'm interested if it's common practice. It seems so ridiculous to me, but then I've long ceased to be surprised at the rip-offs landlords will pull.

commercial lets are a totally different to residential. you'll have to know what's in your contract. it's quite usual that maintenance of the building, and associated costs, are the responsibility of the tenant.

your landlord might need this for their insurance of the building or whatever, but they won't know or necessarily care what you've got installed. for example, with letting a premises for catering, commercial kitchen, you'll have the right to gut the place and install all your own electrics.

check your tenancy agreement, it's the only way to an answer.

Sounds like it's not unusual then. Oh well. Thanks for the info, I knew nothing about this 

If there’s nothing specific in the contract I’d be asking myself who gets into trouble if it’s not completed.....

Read your lease document (or perhaps better get a solicitor to do so on your behalf) to see what that says on the matter.  Commercial leases have little protection, it's more about what's written.

This came as a big shock to me, we rented from the same guy for 20 years who took care of all the maintenance and when we looked to move to a different area every place I looked at came with a full all maintenance including the yard was my responsibility contract. 

Not a bad thing though because it prompted me to buy somewhere. 

I'd say it is worth saying to the landlord "hey, I can't find where it says this in the lease, can you please point out where it says I need to do this?". Then you get the landlord to read the lease and pinpoint the relative bit for you, saving you some time and if the landlord can't pinpoint any bit of the lease that says you need to do this stuff then maybe the next step is made easier: "well, I'm sorry, this is your responsibility as it is not delegated to me and you own the building". Obviously as someone else said, the PAT testing of any items that belong to you are still going to be your responsibility.

As of April 2021 all tenanted houses will have to have an annual wiring installation test. Currently it only has to be done when new tenants move in. 

I’m not sure how this will apply to commercial but if you have permission from the landlord to alter electrical circuits then I would guess it then falls on the tenant to do. 

Are you sure about that?

The law requiring a test once every 5 years only came into force last June. Surely they haven't changed it already?

It's not correct:

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9b5ec155-0cde-4827-ad48-9a01...

From 1 July 2020 for new tenancies, landlords must ensure that electrical installations are inspected and tested by a qualified person before the tenancy begins.

From 1 April 2021, for existing tenancies, an electrical safety test will need to be carried out by 1 April 2021.

The Regulations oblige owners to carry out tests and comply with the 18th edition of the “Wiring Regulations”, British Standard 7671 (BS7671).

The electrical installations must then be tested every 5 years (or earlier if the safety report requires it).

What's more notable is that it appears to require compliance with Edition 18, which is going to require quite substantial work on older properties that have an installation with "grandfather rights" to one of the older Editions.  Which will be most houses, because Edition 18 is quite new.

Could be worse, you could get charged £9k in fees by your landlord when you fix an issue with the building. I have absolutely no idea how the commercial rented sector works, it just seems to be a game of 'unjustified legal posturing'-chicken.