Broader commercial building disclosure obligations

The operation of the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act 2010 (BEEDA) which introduced new obligations from 1 November 2010, has been expanded to cover a greater number of commercial office buildings.

The BEEDA promotes the disclosure of information about energy efficiency of buildings which are used for offices. Offices include areas used, or capable of being used, for administrative, clerical, professional or similar information based activities including any support facilities (for example, this would include a dedicated office gym).

The regime requires owners of applicable buildings to disclose a Building Energy Efficiency Certificate before the owner sells, leases or advertises a building or area in a building.  Significant penalties apply for non-compliance (fines up to $180,000 plus further daily fines) and failure to comply may also result in publication of that non-compliance on a publicly available register.

The disclosure obligations previously only applied if the net lettable area of the building (Disclosure Affected Building) or the relevant area of the building (Disclosure Affected Area) was at least 2,000m².

From 1 July 2017, this net lettable area threshold will lowered to 1,000m².

What does this mean for me?

Owners of commercial buildings which are used or leased as offices should have those buildings assessed to determine whether they fall within this new lowered threshold.

Where buildings are captured by the new threshold, owners should consider any leases they have in place, as they may need to require more energy usage information from tenants so as to enable them to comply with disclosure and certification requirements.

Tenants may also need to comply with the BEEDA if they sub-let their premises, and agents should be reviewing any upcoming heads of agreement and leasing appointments in light of the expanded scope of the regime.

If you have any queries or would like further information regarding this article, please contact:

David Shelley
Managing Principal
M: 0427 183 217
E: dshelley@pageseager.com.au

Published: 14 February 2017

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