Let's take a look from the landlord's perspective. You will be liable for the carbon that is generated from your premises. As a result, you will incur costs and, as leases only allow for repair and maintenance costs to be passed on to tenants under the service charge, you will not potentially be able to charge the tenant for significant carbon reduction investments.

Ok, so that's not the full story (you can read that further on in the newsletter). The CRC comes into effect in April 2010 and to be directly impacted by the new scheme you need to be consuming in excess of 6000 Megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity per year. Typically that means spending in excess of £0.5 million a year on electricity. To know whether you are liable for full participation, you will need to read the full qualification and registration guidance for CRC participants, due for publication this month.

The main point here is that momentum is starting to build and it will affect us all. Right now there is an opportunity to get in early and start to reap the benefits. The alternative is to bury your head, or sit and watch from the sidelines, but if you do you may be missing out. It's not just about regulation; improving energy efficiency makes so much sense and there's as much carrot as there is stick. If you want a piece of the carrot, you need an entrepreneurial view and an open mind. 

First off, it is important to understand the nature of your participation in the CRC scheme. Without getting too technical, if you have one or more half hour meter readers in your premises then you will be directly affected from April 2010. Whether or not you are directly impacted at this time, it is important to be aware of the implications of the upcoming activity.

Simply put, from next April, the commercial property stock in this country will start to be managed in a new and different way. Energy efficiency will become a prime objective and as we all know that can be a real challenge for many properties, especially when it involves capital expenditure. So the temptation is to push this issue to the back of your mind and get on with more pressing priorities.

However, NB Real Estate has a different view. We've had a good long look at the situation and we've come up with a very attractive proposition for all commercial landlords. In essence, the logic is pretty straightforward; energy efficient properties cost less to run and attract higher rents and this situation will only improve overtime. Indeed as the CRC gathers pace, there will be an ever increasing stock of energy efficient properties that will start to dominate the market. Properties that don't measure up to the green yardstick will be increasingly difficult to let; yield and valuations will fall. And vice versa. Get in early and you will reap the rewards.

So what should you be doing right now? You need to be prepared to meet the challenge and NB Real Estate is here to help you. We have developed an eight stage process that will help you assess your current property portfolio, formalise a plan and take advantage of an extremely innovative way of gaining the benefits with the aim of reducing irrecoverable additional capital expenditure.

This really is a complete no-brainer for all landlords. If you want to hear more, why not give me a call. I'm Jonathan Lovejoy and you can reach me on 0207 544 4205, or email me at jlovejoy@nbrealestate.co.uk.