The Residential Landlords Association reports that Britain is introducing so-called “Green Leases” in April and while the new scheme will at first only impact the largest commercial landlords and tenants, the programme’s success will determine whether or not it is introduced for the residential property sector as well at a later date. When a landlord and tenant sign a green lease, they agree to take measures that may reduce a given building’s carbon emissions, make the residential property more energy efficient and control waste.
The programme is seen as the first in a series of steps to impact the rental sector, which the government hopes will help it meet its ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent within the next 40 years. The Energy Efficiency Scheme amounts to a carbon trading programme, where landlords with properties that used more than 6,000 megawatt hours of energy in 2008 participate by lowering emissions. According to the plan, the largest landlords and organizations will have to buy allowances, in order to cover their carbon emissions.
Government officials, however, promise that the scheme will be revenue neutral, in that the money collected will be redistributed each year, based in part on how much a given landlord or organization has done to reduce its carbon emissions. But there are concerns among landlords that it may be difficult to ensure that tenants are also actively trying to be more energy-efficient, especially if they are not the ones required to pay extra for non-compliance.
This is why some landlords will turn to green leases, with some going as far as to stipulate financial penalties for tenants who sign, but do not make an effort to remain energy efficient. But some suggest that so-called “light green leases” will become more common, and these will encourage a concern for sustainability among tenants and will ask them to sign a memorandum of understanding, but will shy away from imposing financial penalties.
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