Professional advisers can help clients with their sustainability goals
Landlords, tenants, property agents, investors, lenders and professional advisors will welcome updates to the Better Buildings Partnership green lease toolkit.
A green lease is a commercial property lease that includes provisions requiring the landlord, tenant and/or managing agent to manage the property in a more sustainable way. Benefits can include making the property more marketable and reducing running costs. The Better Buildings Partnership is an association of major property owners, which first produced their green toolkit some ten years ago.
The updated toolkit contains suggested green lease clauses and guidances to help the parties to a lease and their agents and advisors negotiate green, sustainable provisions in their leases, to improve energy performance and encourage a sustainable approach to property management. This is becoming more important as investors and lenders are increasingly taking notice of sustainability issues and the energy costs of buildings when making investment decisions.
The update includes:
Common provisions in green leases include rules saying fit-outs and repairs must not reduce or affect a property’s green credentials and energy efficiency, and that the landlord can enter and carry out repairs and other works that reduce the building’s environmental impact. They can require tenants to:
Rent reviews can be linked to these targets or standards, and a tenant’s savings can be rewarded by a reduction in service charges.
Find out about the updated toolkit on the Better Buildings Partnership website and consider whether a green lease, or updates to an existing green lease, could bring benefits to the parties, their agents and investors/lenders.